The Curse of the Priestess
by daspharaoh
Summary: It has been one year since Tyson's last victory against Brooklyn and the BEGA organization. Just when a new championship is announced, an acquaintance of Dizzy suddenly appears in the neighborhood, bringing with her strange dreams, old rivals with a mission, and a creeping shadow that threatens to take away everything that the Bladebreakers hold dear.


Decicated to Septragirl.

All original ideas and concepts in this text are hers. I translated and polished it only.

Wherever you are, I hope you're all right.

Beyblade Fanfic

The Curse of the Priestess

Chapter 1 – _"__Friend or Foe" _

One year had gone by since Tyson's last victory against Brooklyn and the BEGA organization. International competition was non-existent, as there was no money, no facilities and no central body to run the sport anymore but, at the very least, bladers could be happy that it hadn't fallen into the pockets of the power hungry Boris Balkov, who wanted to twist their beloved game into something cold and unrecognizable.

However, the situation changed when an anonymous millionaire, claiming to miss the fervour of the show, funded not only a new world championship to be held on his private island, but also all of the elimination tournaments that would handpick players to represent the sixteen countries where the game was more developed, including, of course, Japan.

Kenny was the first to learn of the story, but Hilary heard about it soon after. After everything that had happened to her regarding the game, she had finally made a decision to get good at it, and Kai agreed to train her the minute she asked him to, not requesting her to beg on her knees or even ask why she wanted to do it in secret. Scared of the mocking Tyson would hand her if he found out she was actually playing beyblade, she would have him know about it only when she could shove it down his throat. The reigning champion quickly started to suspect something was happening when Hilary started to show up less and later at his house to hang out, but other things were always going across Tyson's mind and he didn't bother to ask what was going on in hers.

It was only during the last day of school that Tyson got to class, late as always, but with the bruises and dark circles typical of a late night practice, and a smirk worthy of a World Champion who had just found an opportunity to defend his title. It had always been a matter of time before he found out about the tournament, but his enthusiasm reverberated quite differently on Hilary. While he bragged on and on about his deeds, how easy it would be for him to defend his spot at the Japanese team and take the title, Hilary quickly confirmed that he didn't know that the tournament didn't have enough funding for her to follow the Japanese team as a manager unless she paid for it with money she didn't have.

Crestfallen from melancholy, when she announced she was back home her mother picked up on her mood, silently following her to her room.

"What's the matter, dear?" She asked as Hilary put her stuff from school down on her desk.

Hilary sat on her bed and let herself talk about the training she had been having with Kai and how he had surprised her by saying she was doing better than most. Then she told her about her wish of going to the tournament to support her friends, either by paying, or by attending as a player and face judgement, shooting out a couple of nasty things about Tyson inbetween.

"That is a complicated spot you're in, Hilary, but I think that if you want to go to the tournament to be with Tyson and Kenny and everyone else you should just go," her mother said once she had calmed down. "Maybe you'll even be surprised."

As her mother talked, Hilary remembered that she used to tell her a story whenever she came home crying from spraining her knee or being bullied when she was still in primary school, and how it always made her feel better.

"Mom, can you tell me a story? Like the ones you used to when I was little?" She asked. Smiling, she beckoned her to follow her to the living room and, while Hilary sat down on the couch, her mom quickly left to her bedroom and returned with an ornamented wooden box, so old it had crusts of dust on its indentations. She took the glint in Hilary's eyes as a sign that she was thrilled to listen to what she had to say, which had not happened for a while, and it made her quite happy.

"This is a tale told only to the women of our family, that has been passed on from generations much older than our own.

"Long, long ago, Japan was ruled by noble lords, who took what the people owned for their own benefit and forced them to live in misery. At the time some people were born holding spirits with great power, but the lords kept them hidden by paying them or forcing them to be their soldiers, silencing them if they refused to do so.

"One day a spirit was born to a girl. She knew she had to keep it hidden from the world, but she came to meet another wielder of a spirit who had managed to elude the pursuit of a lord. With his help she rescued a dear friend, but all three of them were forced to fight the lord. However, they emerged victorious.

"They pushed forward and defeated more and more lords, and other fearsome warriors joined the priestess. She was called the Priestess of Light, healer of the people, and was escorted at all times by the Counsellor of the People and the five Celestial Warriors, the Warrior of the White West, the Warrior of the Flaming South, the Warrior of the Dark North, the Warrior of the Golden Center, and the Warrior of the Blue East, the one she had saved and she was the closest to.

"Soon the Priestess's deeds started bothering the most powerful Lords, and they decided to act against her. They ended up claiming another girl holding a spirit, and around her they gathered an army to silence the Priestess of Light once and for all. She was called the Priestess of Darkness, known for her melancholy and a looming shadow that fought the light.

"One night during the war, the Warrior of the Flaming South met a lonely young lady, and they fell deeply in love with each other, never revealing their feelings, but always knowing. However, in the middle of battle, the Priestess of Darkness revealed herself to be the woman he loved. Thinking that he been tricked by the sorceress, he killed her without a second thought.

"As they lost their biggest asset, the Lords and the Emperor agreed to sign peace with the Priestess, and life became a little bit better for the people of Japan. However, as the Priestess of Darkness had died, the Priestess of Light started to quickly wither away.

"Her five faithful Celestial Warriors begged for the knowledge to save her, but not even the wise spirit of the Counsellor of the People could help them find a cure for her illness. Four of the five warriors left in search of something that could change her future, leaving only the Warrior of the Blue West to guard her.

"Before any of the other warriors could return, the Priestess of Light died in the arms of the man she loved.

"After they buried their friend, the warriors found their own path. The Warrior of the Blue West fought in many other battles to come, together with his spirit. The Counsellor of the People and the Warrior of the Dark North decided to travel the world to gather knowledge and stop any other similar tragedy. The Warrior of the White West and the Warrior of the Golden Centre returned to their homes, where they were welcomed as heroes and lived peacefully for many years. And the Warrior of the Flaming South disappeared in one of the boats that left the land after the war, never to be seen again."

As she wrapped up her story, Hilary's mother gave her some time to let it sink in, before opening the old box and removing a silver medallion from the blue velvet inside. It has held by a delicate chain and drawn in relief was an elegant plumed dragon.

"The Priestess asked the Warrior of the Blue West give her medallion to the person he trusted most. That medallion has come down to our family, and now it's yours," she said, putting it down on her hands. Feeling the cool metal warm up in her hands, Hilary looked at it fascinated, feeling something familiar within it.

"It's gorgeous…"

"It's called Dawn. I'm glad you like it!"

"I love it, but… I don't think I can take care of it."

"Nonsense! You've already proven to be responsible enough to take care of it until you can hand it down to a girl of your own," her mother said, taking the medallion and gently putting it around of her neck. As she did so, Hilary felt as if some missing piece of her had found its rightful place, as if the medallion had always belonged on her neck and it'd be an unfair penance to have separated herself from it.

Hilary hugged her mother hard, feeling grateful beyond words for her gift.

"You know, you should think of this tournament as training, instead of being so scared of what people will think of your performance," her mother said, continuing before she could intrude. "If you don't make it into the team just keep practicing, and when Tyson comes back he'll have no excuse but to accept you. Maybe you can even beat him yourself."

"I want to do that just to shut him up," she answered.

"And about this thing that you keep worrying about him, even though he's mean to you sometimes, well, if I tell you what I think you'll refuse to believe me, so you're going to be the one to find out what it is."

"What? How bad is it?"

"Well, I'd like to know my grandchildren before I pass away," her mother answered with a laugh.

"Right…"

"Oh dear, look at the time, I have dinner to attend to. Go upstairs and do your homework, I'll call you in a bit."

_She found herself not as her, but not as someone else either. She had the same sharp eyes, but she was a bit older, her hair long and tamed in a ponytail, and her clothes were from a different time. She sat on a fallen log by a clearing, waiting, listening to the soothing sound of a nearby creek and the songs of small birds, tiptoeing on the branches above. Suddenly, a shadow crossed the brush and spooked the birds into flying away. She looked up and found Dragoon between the treetops, but she she didn't look back down for Tyson or his beyblade. Instead, she kept eyeing the blue dragon as it swerved around the trees and landed before her, crouching to let a friend she knew well jump safely from his neck to the ground. Tyson was tanned and his hair was shorter, as if he had cut it himself instead of letting someone competent do the job, but he also wore something a warrior from a fairy-tale would maybe use._

"_And I'm back!" he said, patting Dragoon's neck as he faced her._

"_Yes you are, Tai. Did you find anything?"_

"_It's pretty messy. It's making me nervous, I can't get close without them noticing something's strange, even if I wear my disguise. Whatever they're planning, it's big. I don't like it."_

"_You're right, they usually prefer to show off their newest weapon and threaten us with it…"_

"_We should go back to camp and get ready for anything," Tai said turning for Dragoon._

"_Wait, I've been meaning to ask you something," she said, and he looked back at her._

"_Sure, what is it?"_

"_I've just been wondering, when the lords brought you in because of Dragoon, who did they use to threaten you? I know you wouldn't take money, and you have no family that I know of but, whomever it is, it could be related to their plan. We should find them and get them to safety before it's too late."_

"_Oh, that," Tai said, turning his head slightly away from her. "You don't have to worry about that, she's safe. It's nothing special," he said glancing at her._

"_The way you're reacting she sounds pretty special," she said, managing to just barely hold a bitter note on her tongue, cursing herself for believing his heart had not yet been taken by someone else._

"_She's fine, that's all that matters," he answered, still refusing to make eye contact with her. "As fine as… well, you, I'd say," he added._

_She sighed, knowing she wouldn't be able to get anything from him. It was something that worried her, but she trusted his word that this mystery woman could not be used by their foes._

"_Have it your way. But if you do something reckless because of her, I…"_

_She could not finish her sentence. She knew that, as much as she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to harm the person she was unconditionally and madly in-_

"No way!"

Sitting up on her bed, Hilary took a deep breath to calm down. Even though it had only been a dream and those people weren't actually herself or Tyson, they looked too much alike to let that train of thought end. She shook the dream off as she rubbed her head, and realized that no one had come to check up on her after that shout. Her father usually left very early, but her mother should still be inside the house, if she wasn't fifteen minutes late for her appointment in the first week of the holiday.

After she got dressed in a rush and grabbed the sandwich her mother left her for lunch, she ran to one of the abandoned warehouses by the docks where Max, Ray and Kai should be waiting for her.

Even Daichi was only mildly annoying, so, all things considered, Tyson's reaction to her entering the tournament was really her only issue. But her mother could have a point when she said Hilary could be surprised, as Tyson could come around to cheering her on as a friend, if he felt the same kind of affection she had towards-

She made a point of shaking her head and forgetting about the dream that had kept her in bed for too long that morning.

Deep in thought, she crashed against someone on the street and fell to the ground. She was about to apologize, but the person who had helped her up was Tyson, and the feelings from her dream rushed up a storm that reddened her face like a ripe tomato.

"Morning, Hilary, what are you doing out here?" Tyson asked. She didn't usually hang out near the docks, as far as he knew.

"N-nothing, what about you? Why are you up so soon?" she asked back. He raised an eyebrow and she felt her heart skip a beat.

"What's going on?"

"It's none of your business," she answered passing by him, trying to sound as natural and she could.

"Hey, what's gotten into you?"

"I have stuff to do, go away!"

Although she hurried her step, as she looked back she saw him following her in the corner of her eye.

"God, don't you have something better to do than following me?"

"Not really."

"Get a life, Tyson."

"I have a life, otherwise I wouldn't be rushing here trying to talk to you."

"You know what I mean. Anyway, I'm still late, so goodbye."

As she turned the corner Hilary started to run and turned another corner, effectively vanishing before Tyson could catch up. Her training had payed off in some way, as she could run a lot faster than Tyson would ever expect, so he quickly lost her trail and she managed to make into the warehouse alone.

Although Kai asked why she was late he didn't say anything else about it, and her training went by uneventfully. Her beyblade glided across an improvised beystadium against Max's Draciel, and Ray and Kai advised her on how she should approach a prominently defensive foe.

It wasn't until noon that she decided to tell them that she was thinking about participating on the upcoming event.

"You want to be a player for the Japanese team?" Ray said, completely caught off guard.

"That's great news, Hilary, go for it!" Max said holding thumbs up towards her.

"I don't think I'll be able to do much, especially if I have to fight you guys on the way, but it'll be good practice, right?" she said with a nervous laugh.

"Oh, Ray and I won't be on the Japanese team," Max said.

"I'll be going for China, and Max's going for the States," Ray said. "So there'll be two spots on the team, if Tyson, Daichi and Kai get in."

"Yeah, if you could get into the team it'd be great."

"Oh… Well, in that case, I have to be able to get in…"

"If you really want to, then you have nothing to lose for trying," Kai said.

"Alright, you guys. Don't go easy on me!" She asked with a confident nod. How could she not give her all and risk one of the spots to be given to a stranger instead of her, who had been on that team for so long?

When they returned to the Granger residence, in time for lunch, Tyson was at the entrance, peeking in as if he was scared of going inside for some reason, but he quickly turned and waved towards them as he heard their steps.

"Oh, hey guys!"

He shut his mouth just as fast, but the front door was burst open and Diachi jumped outside, clamping onto Tyson's head.

"A-ha! So this is where you were hiding. I want a battle and I want it now!"

"Ok, ok, we'll fight during practice, now get off of me!"

"Oh, hey guys, ready for some matches?" he said, jumping from Tyson's back putting his confident fists on his hips.

"Anytime, Daichi," Ray answered.

"Why did you have to run away from me if you were just going to meet with the guys, Hilary?" Tyson asked. "And when did you learn to run like…" As he took a better look at her, Tyson pointed at some minor bruises half-hidden by her sleeves and dirt spots on her clothes. "What happened to you?"

"I ran into you and fell, remember?" She said, blushing from embarrassment.

"Really?" Tyson smirked back at her. "I think you got a rough little boyfriend that you're not willing to share."

Hilary's mind blocked, thinking that was a ridiculous assumption and she had to counter it somehow, but when she kept silent and blushed Tyson couldn't help but take it a silent consent.

"Wait, what? That's actually true? Who is he?"

No, that was fine. The enjoyment of watching Tyson squirm under such a false pretence was a potential gold mine, and it was also the perfect excuse to keep practicing in secret without him bothering her. Where to even begin?

"Oh, you don't know him. I don't even think you're worthy of his name," she said, regaining her composure, but avoiding direct eye contact so that she wouldn't burst out laughing.

"You what?" Ray and Max thought aloud. Daichi stared at her, wondering how could someone like her trick any sane man to fall for her, and Kai watched Tyson's face twist with a glint of amusement.

"So it's true? What's his name? Come on!" He demanded.

"Dawn," she said, taking inspiration from the medallion hidden beneath her shirt. "Dawn Lightshield."

"That sounds pretty foreign."

"Because it is foreign, dumbass, and that's as much as I'll tell you."

"Man, really? I knew something was going on with you, but I didn't expect you to actually get a boyfriend all of sudden," he said, thinking aloud. "Why you didn't you tell us? When did it all start? Did you guys know about this?"

"Why do you care?" She answered while Ray, Max and Kai all shook their heads.

"Nothing, nothing," he said holding his hands up. "I just think it's important for us to know because you're our friend, but if you don't want to tell us anything that's your problem. Hey, you guys know about this next big tournament to decide the team for Japan, right?" Tyson looked back to the boys from his former team, the spark of excitement back on his eyes.

"Yes, but Max and I were called back to our home countries, so we won't be able to compete with you," Ray answered, still coming to terms with the fact that Tyson had swallowed up Hilary's lie so fast.

"Not again! Come on, man, you fought for your countries last time, we should be stick together this year."

"Sorry, Tyson, but we all still owe you rematches and we just don't want to lose," Max said with a shrug. "No hard feelings, I hope."

"A little hard feelings, but I can understand. I'll be pretty psyched up for those matches. Reigning champion has to defend his title," Tyson said with a grimace. "What about you Kai, you going for Russia?"

"No. I'm staying."

For a moment, no one said another word. The one person who should want to face Tyson on a match the most wasn't going to face him at all?

"Glad to have you back on the team, man," Tyson ended up saying.

"Hey, what about me?" Daichi asked.

"What about you? If you manage to get past the elimination tournament you'll be on the team too."

"Alright, piece of cake!"

"When are you guys leaving?" Hilary asked Ray and Max.

"Pretty soon, unfortunately. I'm leaving later tonight and, Ray, you're going tomorrow at noon right?"

"Yeah."

"Then we need to use this afternoon to put in as much practice as we can," Tyson said, turning towards Kai. "You can stay in my place so we can practice more often."

Without a word, he turned around and walked down the street.

"Hey, where are you going?" Shouted Tyson.

"Getting my stuff. Start without me."

Away from the all the noise, Kai could almost sigh from relief. He had no reason to seek out any other team. Other than the fact that he had almost always regretted changing sides, Tala's fight with Brooklyn had left him with a wrist injury that made him unable to play at the top level, and there was no one else in the Blitzkreig Boys he cared about. Besides, he and Tyson had often battled it out to their hearts' content during that long downtime from competition. Making their fight official at a large stadium with people shouting at them would not change a thing. He wouldn't be able to go all out against Tyson while tournament season was on but, if fortune smiled upon him, someone else would entertain him during the road.

It didn't take long for him to return home and, after quickly explaining the situation to the butler in charge of the house and denying a lift back to Tyson's place, he grabbed a backpack and fit in a toolkit for his beyblade, toothbrush and a couple of changes.

As he searched the room for anything else he could need, he heard running steps outside and peeked through the curtains, spotting a man in black running on the wall of the private compound on the other side of the street, chasing after someone he couldn't see because of the trees surrounding the Hiwatari mansion.

A blast of energy erupted from the road, as if something had suddenly become shrouded in a dark sort of wind, which would have knocked Kai back if he hadn't held on to the window on time. Something hit him at high speed, he fell on the bed behind him, and soon after light returned to normal, revealing a girl laid on top of him. She pushed herself up and looked at him with deep ice-blue eyes that touched a memory within him, intangible, slipping away between his fingers.

"Kaito?" She asked, her voice very low and sharp.

That was also something familiar and intangible.

A sound outside brought them back to reality and the girl covered his mouth, as she rolled under the bed and dragged him to hide behind it, staying as immobile as she could, listening for any sign of her pursuer. The house's phone rang but, as instructed, the butler dispatched the caller, claiming no one of importance to be home.

The summer wind rustled on the trees, a dog barked in the distance and cars drove by the road for a couple of minutes before the girl allowed herself to crawl from under the bed. As he stood up as well, Kai noticed a red, warm stain on his left hand.

"Blood?" he wondered aloud.

"It's not yours," the girl whispered back, peeking outside cautiously from the side of the window. Her long, lilac hair was unkempt and covered most of her face, making it very hard to take another look at her strange eyes. Her skin was pale white, but dirty and carved in scars and scratches, and her worn clothes could make Daichi's look brand new. Not only had she probably been on the road for long, it seemed she had been the target of several attacks like the one he had just witnessed. Fresh blood was dripping from her inner thigh, from a wound hidden by her torn jeans, and for the first time in his life Kai felt a tingle of worry that he had probably touched someone somewhere he shouldn't have, even if accidentally.

"What was that name you called me?" He asked as the girl took a deep breath, taking it as sign that she felt safe.

"Kaito," she answered, turning towards him. He couldn't see her eyes because of her hair, which felt both strange and somewhat comforting.

"Why?" He asked, looking outside the window for anything out of the ordinary she could have missed.

"You look like him," she answered. "May I use your first aid kit and a lighter to fix this wound before I leave? It may be too much of me to ask for now, but I won't bother you again."

"Feel free to use the bed, sheets were about to be cleaned anyway," he said before leaving for the master bathroom where they kept what she had requested. He expected people from the streets to be rude, but he could question her about her origins once her wound was fixed.

From the kit, the girl took a roll of blue and white bandages, iodine solution, a stitching needle and thread, scissors, a plastic tube and a plastic bag. She used the lighter to meld together one of the ends of the tube with the plastic bag, opened a couple of holes on the other end of the tube and poured iodine over it and over her hands. Then she opened the stitching needle and thread, put the small tube inside of her wound and started stitching her muscle with precise gestures. It was clearly not the first time she was performing such a thing.

Kai couldn't help but look away from her work every now and again, when his stomach threatened to throw away his lunch. Instead he looked at the girl's face, trying to remember why she was so familiar, as sweat dripped from her cheeks. There had to be a reason why she had not looked for a hospital, but there had to be someone else who knew her and could deal with her.

Her skin had gained an even paler tone, and her hands trembled as she started the final knot. With tape she tied the tube and the bag, which slowly filled with dark blood, to her leg and took the iodine from Kai's hands to pour over the closed wound. Then she asked for the bandages, but as Kai started to open them she collapsed, letting her thin body drop on the mattress.

Feeling somewhat responsible for her fate, Kai knew he couldn't just leave her there. Her pulse was strong, so she had probably collapsed from exhaustion and should come to her senses after some rest, but he also had an appointment with Tyson and the others that had been delayed for too long. Snorting out of frustration, he finished opening the bandages and tied them firmly around her leg. Then he threw the backpack over his shoulder and, picking her up, accepted the butler's lift to Tyson's place.

Tyson found himself to be surprisingly bored. Although he usually cheered on his friends as they battled each other for practice, he didn't have the energy to do it that day. Max's advice to Ray and Daichi, Dizzi's daring commentary, Kenny's analysis and even Hilary's commands just refused to sink in his head, as something constantly blocked constructive thought. He panicked slightly when he realized it was exactly the same thing that happened when he was studying, but instead of drifting towards beyblading techniques and memorable matches, his brain was finding something it deemed even more important to think about.

The worse thing about all that was that it was the last day Max and Ray would hang around with them for months.

As Kenny and Hilary clapped when Strata Dragoon managed to barely hold itself on the edge of the stadium after a powerful counterattack from Ray's Driger, Tyson found himself wondering what would happen to the team without its only female member ever. He had overheard a conversation between Hilary and a girl from their class, saying that even if she could go to the elimination rounds to cheer them on, she couldn't afford the trip to the championship proper.

Although she wasn't a player, she had always given her all as the Bladebreakers's manager, a position that Tyson had grown to accept, even if it gave her an annoying sort authority over them. She was the one that kept them in line and forced them to train, she had managed to muster the willpower to see an invisible bit-beast when none of them could, and she had stuck with the Bladebreakers even after their status as the guardians of the Sacred Bit-Beasts and world champions put her in danger more than once before.

And Tyson would pay the trip for her if she asked him to. However, if he was the one to suggest it, he would have to admit having spied on her conversations, and it didn't take a lot from his imagination to see where that would lead. Also, it seemed like she didn't care too much about not being able to go, as she had her new boyfriend to worry about and hang with.

In a couple of years all of them would graduate from school and find someone they liked, just like Ray and Mariah, who started dating during that past year and that Tyson fully supported. But Mariah was a beyblade player, just like Ray. If Hilary wasn't a player, and her boyfriend wasn't one either, it was likely he would break her apart from their world. But not before he settled a score with Tyson Granger, and told him exactly what he found so special about Hilary that he chose to date her instead of just being friends, like any sensible person would. That boyfriend would definitely get bored of her ability to get on his nerves… even though she didn't seem to get on anyone else's nerves.

As Tyson was musing about whatever flaws Hilary had that would push the boyfriend away, she turned her head towards him and claimed it was his turn to practice.

"Huh, yeah sure, but…" he started, feeling his cheeks warm up and looking around to hide it. "Where's Kai? Shouldn't he be here already?"

"You're right, he shouldn't take this long," Kenny said checking the time with Dizzi as Max and Ray looked about for him too.

"I think Tyson's finally starting to make an impression on him," Dizzi said. "But I can't imagine him reading manga and eating chips on the floor."

"Oh, please no," Hilary thought aloud.

"Hey!"

"Tyson, come here!" Kai's voice shouted from the front gate. The group traded glances and all of them got up to see what was going on.

"Hey, Kai… Who's that?" Tyson asked pointing at the pale ragged girl with lilac hair and hardly any trace of life that he was carrying.

"I don't know."

"Then why did you bring her here?"

"Elivah!"

From Kenny's hands, Dizzi's robotic voice silenced any fight that could have started right there.

"You know her, Dizzi?" Asked Max.

"Yes, she helped me get back inside this laptop and I helped her escape from-"

Dizzi suddenly silenced herself, as if she had said too much.

"She's the one who helped you come back?" Kenny asked.

"No, wait a minute, you helped her escape from where?" Asked Tyson, but Dizzi didn't reply. "I don't think you should bring her in, Kai-"

"Let her stay!" Kenny said in an unusual determined tone.

"Why?" Daichi asked. "She sounds like trouble, Chief."

"It's thanks to her that I have Dizzi back, and I'm not letting her out on the street," he quickly answered. "If you don't want her here, I'll take her back to my place and stay with her until she wakes up."

The previous year, just before they had all met Daichi, Dizzi had suddenly disappeared from Kenny's laptop. He had said so to Tyson keeping a fair bit of composure, as if it had always meant to happen. Then, as suddenly as she had disappeared, Dizzi returned to the laptop during the beginning of the school term, claiming that she had been pulled by the Internet and got lost trying to find her way back to that specific computer. However, when they asked her about how she had managed to return, she kept her answers vague enough that they had to give up trying to connect the dots.

Tyson could guess how big a blow losing Dizzi made on Kenny because he could easily image himself being pretty upset with somehow losing Dragoon. Besides, what could possibly happen with that Elivah girl that they hadn't already gone through?

"Alright, Kenny, she can stay here," he said. "She can stay in my room as long we're using the dojo."

"Are you nuts? You're letting a total stranger crash in your room?" Daichi asked in a bit of shock.

"Hey, you stayed there too when you came out of nowhere!" Tyson answered, while Kenny led Kai inside the house and Hilary, Max and Ray followed.

"Yeah, but you owed me a match!"

"That wasn't the problem!"

As the rest climbed up the stairs, the shouts from the two of them fighting outisde eventually died out, and Kai laid down the girl on Tyson's bed.

"What's that thing on her leg?" Hilary asked, pointing at the bag sticking out of the bandages around her thigh.

"It's a drain," Dizzi said. "It's for draining blood from deep cuts and surgical wounds. She did that herself, didn't she?"

"Yes," Kai answered. "She stitched the wound by herself too."

"Some things don't change," she answered.

"You sound like you know her pretty well, Dizzi," Ray said.

Something like a small bell echoed when the girl muttered something on her sleep, straining her eyes.

"… Dad, come back…"

Her hand slightly moved up as if looking for something, but quickly fell back down as her face relaxed again.

"Dad? What happened to him?" Max asked the computer.

"… They were separated," Dizzi answered, choosing her words carefully.

"Why?"

"I'm not the one you should ask that to. Ask her when she wakes up. We should go back to training, we've wasted too much time already."

As they went out into the back garden they quickly realized Tyson and Daichi had already started their fight to determine the victor of their argument, so Kai and Max started their own game and Kenny and Ray took turns watching the two of them, while Hilary pondered about what should they do about the girl.

After the group said goodbye to Max at the airport, just before he had to embark for his flight to New York, Hilary decided to stay in Tyson's place as well to look after the girl during the night, since Dizzi forbade them from calling a doctor or telling the police about her. They let the girls stay in Tyson's room and he brought a sleeping bag to the dojo to sleep with Daichi, Kai, Ray and Kenny, once they exhausted themselves over training and data processing.

The boys' shouting could barely be heard with windows and the door shut, and after making sure the stranger was sleeping fine, Hilary laid down on the extra mattress Grampa had dug out for her. Everything that had happened that day had left her exhausted, and she wondered if she could keep it up with official matches on the mix, and how did Tyson managed to pull it all off so effortlessly.

_She was on the battlefield, surrounded by her most trusted friends, riding their spirits and prepared for anything that was to come._

"_Since you refuse to give in to our modest demands, you leave us with no choice," claimed one of the lords, riding one of his subordinates' spirits. "Edonisu will be you opponent, Priestess Hina. Prepare to fall."_

_The spirit turned and flew back towards the massive army that had gathered under the lords, led by a turtle-like creature with a throne on his back, where a woman in dark, heavy gowns and chains on her wrists and her ankles sat. When the spirit was safely behind the army's lines, dark smoke enveloped the woman, shaping into a massive monster, whose snarling teeth made themselves visible in the darkness, and roared in anger._

Hilary jumped from her bed and looked around, but found no such teeth in Tyson's room. Up on the bed, the girl from the previous day was still sleeping, her breath barely audible in the midst of the rustle of leaves from the garden outside. Rubbing her eyes, Hilary felt the adrenaline rush from her nightmare fade out and, after checking the time, she got up and headed for the kitchen to make some eggs, rice and toast for the guys, grampa Granger and the girl. She ate her share and, after covering the rest with a napkin to stop the flies from getting frisky with their food, took another share to Tyson's bedroom.

Dawn had already gone by and, while Hilary checked her phone for news, waiting, the sun's rays managed to sneak in through the curtains and gently light the room. Foggy from sleepiness, the lilac haired girl's eyes opened, and she slowly looked around the new place she found herself in, alerting Hilary that she was finally awake.

"Good morning," she said, drawing the girl's attention towards her. The fogginess of her eyes disappeared, as she seemed to recognize her.

"Hina?"

As she realized she had thought aloud, the girl's face quickly hardened, keeping but a glint of caution on her eyes.

But wasn't that the name Hilary had dreamt with that day?

"Hina?" she asked.

"I apologize, it was a mistake," the girl answered, shaking her head. "You look very much like someone with that name. Where am I?"

"This is Tyson Granger's place. You probably know him, he's Beyblade's world champion," Hilary said, and the girl nodded back. "His team member, Kai, brought you here, but he didn't say what happened to you. One of our friends knows you, though."

"Who?" Asked the girl, slightly raising an eyebrow.

"It's a little complicated to explain, but our tech guy, Kenny, has a bit-beast inside his laptop, and…"

"Dizzi?" The girl asked, looking slightly surprised again.

"Yes, that's right," Hilary said letting out a nervous laugh. "Oh, I made breakfast for everyone, and I've got some here for you, if you want," she said, remembering the plate she had left in Tyson's desk.

"If it's not too much to ask…" the girl answered, sitting on the bed.

"Not at all! I'm Hilary Tachibana. You are?"

"Ellivah Kurotenshi, but I prefer going by Ells, if that's alright," she answered, taking the plate that Hilary handed her.

When she brought the fork to her mouth her face froze for a second, as if she was in shock.

"This is delicious! I've never had anything so tasty!"

The words surprised Hilary almost as much as the sudden change in character. She had never been praised for her food, even though she had been trying to improve as a cook with her mother's help.

"O-oh, it's nothing, really," she struggled to say as the girl kept eating with gusto. More than truly enjoying the food, her thin, weak body all but told Hilary that she must have been starving for quite some time.

"Thank you for the meal," the girl said putting down the fork as she finished, her expression back to normal.

"Did you really like it?" Hilary asked.

"Yes, it was very good."

"Thank you! Do you want some more?" She asked jumping from joy.

"You're very kind, Hilary, but I don't want to impose on you."

"Oh, it's fine. I'll be right back!"

As she climbed down the stairs Hilary saw that grampa Granger had already eaten, put his things away and was probably in the middle of morning practice at the dojo. Daichi was dragging a half-asleep Tyson inside the room, Ray and Kai had just finished their breakfast, and Kenny was almost done with his.

"Morning, everyone."

"Did you make this?" Tyson asked, frowning at the few scrambled eggs that remained on the frying pan.

"Yeah, why? You have something to complain about?" Hilary answered.

"As a matter of fact-"

"In that case don't waste your precious taste eating my bad, sloppy food. I'll give it to someone who appreciates it," she cut him off, swiping the rest of the eggs and some rice from the cooker.

"Hey, who said you could-"

"You just said you didn't like it, and I don't want to be responsible for the world champion's stomach-ache."

"I'll eat it, give it back!" Tyson said taking the plate from her hands.

"Whatever," she said, turning to grab another plate to give Ells the last of the rice and a warm toast with milk.

"Are you going to give that to the girl upstairs?" Ray asked.

"Yes. She just woke up and she was starving. I've already brought her some food, but I think she should have more to regain her strength."

"If you're taking that upstairs what is she doing here?" Daichi asked.

Hilary turned around and saw Elivah leaning on the handrail of the staircase, turning towards the kitchen.

"You didn't need to come down, you need to rest," Hilary said rushing to help her. The girl shook her head, stood straight and bowed slightly towards Kai.

"Thank you for everything."

He simply nodded back and then left the kitchen with Ray to warm up for another day of practice.

"Since you're here, have a seat," Hilary said. After she set out the plate she had prepared for Elivah she bowed slightly and ate, keeping her composure but still tasting her food. Seeing she had been telling the truth, Tyson could barely believe someone was actually enjoying Hilary's breakfast.

"Oh, by the way Hilary, since you've finished, could you go get the brochure for the tournament?" He asked chowing down some bread. "I wanna see the rules and the format."

"Really? How do you know I don't have any plans for today?"

"Oh, so you're meeting your little boyfriend and just ignoring your friends?" Tyson answered back letting the rage build up. However, she took a glance at Ells and thought that was not the time or the place to get mad at Tyson's morning attitude.

"This time I'll do what you're asking me to, but answer like that to me again and I won't."

She stormed out of the house putting on her coat, but the morning breeze and the blue, endless sky eventually calmed her down. There was no point in getting mad on a beautiful day where so much could still happen.

Turning the corner towards the stationary, she felt something grab hold of her. A piece of cloth smelling sweet covered her mouth and stopped her from screaming, as she was dragged towards a white van, losing conscience and the strength to fight back.

Two hours had gone by since Hilary had left, and Tyson was growing impatient. Elivah was sleeping on his bed again and the four of them had had more than enough morning practice. That goddamn girl was going to make him lose his sanity.

Grunting out that he was going to look for her, Tyson stood up and stormed out of the backyard. She was the one who said she had no plans for the morning, so she had no right to complain if he caught her and the boyfriend red-handed in some lovey-dovey puking hand-holding.

Just as he turned past the gate, a boy he had never seen before blocked his path, moving in his way when he tried to walk past him.

"Hey, what's your problem?"

Without a word, the boy handed him a note with a mischievous smile and dashed away.

"Hey, wait!" But Tyson didn't bother to follow him, choosing to just look down at whatever his note said. "What was that all about?"

We have the girl. Come to the cooling unit at the docks, alone or you won't see her again.

Crumbling the paper and cursing himself for not thinking about that possibility sooner or even chasing after the kid, Tyson ran towards the docks.

Darkness.

Cold.

They numbed her, but she regained her senses.

Suddenly the memory of being kidnapped lit a spark on her and Hilary sat up to see where she was, finding massive hooks on the ceiling, some of them holding up whole carcasses of pigs and cows. If not for the beystadium in the center of the warehouse, it was just like what she imagined from the back of a butcher's shop.

The low temperature made her shiver, and she grabbed the blanket that been left next to her. It was also cold, but it was better than nothing. She couldn't even move, but looking at the heavy doors on the other side of the warehouse she didn't think they were unlocked to begin with.

As she checked if she was truly unharmed and not just incredibly numbed by the cold, one of the doors opened and a boy she had never seen in the neighbourhood entered, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, you're awake," he said as he noticed Hilary tighten the blanket around her. "Good. It's better if you're up and begging."

As she was too cold and weak to fight back, he approached her and forced her to get up, dragging her towards the stadium. He sat her back down next to him and waited, arms crossed, staring at the massive doors for someone to come forth.

It didn't take as long as Hilary believed it would. The doors opened and Tyson crossed through, quickly noticing Hilary and biting his lip. She tried to call him, but it came out as a whisper and a deep shiver.

"Challenge!" The boy claimed. "Beat me and you can have her."

"And what's in it for you, psycho?" Tyson asked back.

"I'll take her for myself, for starters," he said with the same smile he had left him with. Done with the questions, Tyson took out his launcher and the boy followed him, as his smile disappeared to make place to a focused stare towards the stadium.

"3, 2, 1, Let it rip!"

Both beyblades spinned over the stadium, but Dragoon was off-balance while his opponent slid perfectly over the metal.

"What's going on here?" Tyson thought aloud and the boy's purple beyblade massacred his.

"I-It's the ice," Hilary said as loudly as she could. Tyson took a closer look at the stadium and realized it was covered in a thin layer of ice. How come that boy's beyblade was impervious to it?

"Impressive, isn't it?" The boy asked as his beyblade chased Dragoon around like a toy.

"What do you want with all this? Why did you have to kidnap Hilary just to challenge me to this freak show?" Tyson asked.

Without a word, the purple beyblade crashed hard into Dragoon, and Tyson struggled to see it stay inside the beystadium. He needed to hurry and end that fight. Hilary was freezing, her face getting pale and her lips turning as purple as that stranger's beyblade. There was no time to fool around, and he called out his bit-beast's name.

The blue dragon rose from the beyblade, majestic and unharmed by the cold.

"_That boy needs to be reminded of how soft his flesh is."_

"_Let's try not to-"_

The mischievous smile returned to the stranger's face.

"Mihira!"

The purple beyblade sent out shockwaves strong enough to crack the ice on the path it had taken. It's bit-beast rose, terrible, monstrous, shaped like a polar bear that dwarfed Dragoon, dyed in a dark aura like mist all around.

"_I do not know what that is…"_

"_Any more than you do."_

With a roar it threw a paw at the dragon that easily dodged out of the way, but the shockwave of its movement broke a piece of the pipeline on the roof. Cold air gushed out from it like artic wind and the temperature dropped even more.

The boy laughed and turned back to Tyson, his smile grown evil.

"Looks like you have to hurry up and lose, otherwise we'll all freeze to death. And your little girlfriend will go first."

Although she wanted to fight back, Hilary felt the chill caressing her bones like a sharp blade, but she knew that if Tyson rushed for her sake he'd probably lose. He was far from being in control of the fight.

The massive bear threw another paw at Dragoon who got away again, hitting the stadium and destroying it. The strength of the wind threw Hilary back, but she managed to slowly look back up and see what had happened. Both beyblades were still spinning and crashing into each other as if nothing had happened, even without a stadium to fight in.

That raw power was unlike anything Tyson had ever seen, and they couldn't risk a Tornado in such a confined space. As they struggled to find a way to defeat that monster, the extraordinary energy that flowed from Mihira suddenly expanded. Unable to contain it, the bit-beast fragmented as if it was made of cracking glass, and dark smoke gushed out of the cracks, vanishing rapidly. It was a golden opportunity, so Tyson sent out all of Dragoon's might against it. The bit-beast offered no resistance and broke into pieces. The smoke that emerged from it exploded into a powerful storm and, seeking to set itself free, burst open the doors of the warehouse.

When the wind faded out, Tyson stood up, grabbed Dragoon on the way and rushed to check up on Hilary, finding her fainted by the opposite wall. As he put an arm around her to get out of thats place, a man dressed much like a black ninja from a manga stepped forward inside the building. Without a word, he grabbed the purple beyblade and the unconscious boy by the doors, glanced at Tyson and left, closing the doors behind him before he could even let go of Hilary to stop him.

He banged on the door and yelled out to let them go, but the door was firmly locked and no one came to their aid. Not even Dragoon made a dent on the door, as Tyson's strength waned away with the growing cold.

Feeling powerless to get them out of that situation, Tyson only managed to sit down next to Hilary and barely keep himself awake.

Since Daichi was too exhausted and Tyson and Hilary were still missing, Kai took Ray to the airport by himself. However, just as easily as Daichi was drained from his energy, he was ready to fight again. After he was done helping grampa Granger clean the dojo, he came out to the backyard ready for another round of training, but all he found was Kenny analysing data and the strange girl sitting down at the porch, gazing at the mesmerizing sky.

"Where's Tyson and Kai?" He asked Kenny.

"I don't know, they didn't come back yet," he answered without taking his eyes from the monitor.

"Argh, that's it! I'll go out and drag Tyson back home myself!"

As he spoke, a feeling of oppressed and uncontrolled power filled the air around the Granger's dojo, and Daichi trembled.

"What was what?" Kenny asked with a scared voice.

"I don't know, I can't analyse it. It's too powerful," Dizzi said.

"Oh, no."

They turned back to see a horrified expression on Elivah face, if only for a moment before it vanished behind a neutral stare.

"I'm going out," she said, pulling the drain from her leg and throwing it into the dirt.

"I'm going too!" Daichi said. No way he would let that strange girl do as she pleased while Tyson and Hilary were away.

"Good, I'll need your help."

"Stay here chief, we'll be right back."

Led by Elivah, he dashed out into the streets.

When she woke up and saw Tyson next to her, passed out, Hilary grabbed the blanket that had found its way over her shoulders again and covered them both with it, holding him with her arms to make sure she could cover them both as best as possible.

As he felt the rummaging, Tyson's eyes suddenly opened and turned to her.

"H-Hilary? What are you doing?"

"Keeping you warm, of course," she answered. It felt a little embarrassing being so close to him, but it was the best chance they had of holding on until help came along.

"Won't your boyfriend be jealous?" He asked, but doing nothing to stop her. At first Hilary didn't remember any boyfriend, then the lie from the previous day came to her and she shook her head.

"Don't worry about it. Even if he did… it doesn't matter. I'm not letting you freeze in here."

"Really? You'd risk that for me?"

"Of course. If I care about him more than our current… circumstances, I wouldn't deserve youy friendship. And if he doesn't understand what happened… he doesn't deserve to be my boyfriend."

Something like gratitude filled him without him even noticing, and he pulled her closer towards him, surprising her and making her blush against her will.

"Thanks," he said.

"Y-you're welcome," she managed to say. His warmth felt nicer than she would like to admit, but every single one of their breaths rose towards the broken pipes and cold air still poured out into the warehouse. Even the carcasses started to become covered in a layer of ice. If only there was a way to warm the air around them…

As she conjured the thought, Hilary felt slightly warmer, but she believed her racing heart to be the reason for it. Even if he wasn't looking at her, Tyson's stare towards the doors was so loaded with divergent feelings that she felt tiny in comparison, like a small pray in the presence of its predator, immobile with fear. However, what filled her heart was definitely nor fear, but something that she had never truly experienced before.

Just like her, Tyson didn't move, feeling a bit surprised for allowing himself to be so close to Hilary, and praying for someone to come and get them out of that place, as he was powerless to do so.

"Well, this is it," Ray said as he and Kai approached the luggage and ticket check at the airport. "Make sure you find Tyson and Hilary and scold them good for me."

"I will."

"Take care, Kai. I hope to see you on the tournament," Ray said as they shook hands.

"Likewise." He answered. "Say hi to the guys at the White Tigers."

"Will do."

After he blended in the rest of the crowd, Kai didn't wait any longer and left. Tyson had probably lost track of time fighting kids somewhere, but Hilary shouldn't be absent without letting them know where she was somehow.

As he reached the exit, a mass of shadowy energy flooded the airport, as if something had exploded nearby. In his pocket, Dranzer trembled and Kai looked around for anything telling him what had just happened, but everyone else there was acting normally, as if they hadn't noticed anything.

Suddenly the cellphone Kenny had handed him rumbled and, after checking who it was, he answered.

"What happened?"

"Did you feel that too?"

"Yes. What was it?"

"We don't know. Ells and Daichi left running somewhere, I don't know where they've gone to."

"Where are Tyson and Hilary?"

"They're not back yet, I don't like this…"

"Stay where you are, I'll find them."

"Thanks, Kai. Please don't vanish too."

He hung up and, after pondering about the source of that energy, he caught a taxi for the docks.

"Where are we going?" Daichi asked, growing tired of running after the girl. They had ran all the way from Tyson's place to the docks, and the fact she hadn't flinched once from the wound on her leg made him even more convinced she was a witch of some sort.

"To the source of that power," she answered, taking one final corner towards a cooling warehouse. "It came from there."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes, I am."

Ellivah tried opening the door but it didn't budge, not even when Daichi joined in to push with her.

Inside, Tyson and Hilary woke from their state of trance when someone smashed against the door. They traded glances full of hope and shouted out.

"Help!"

"We're stuck in here!"

"Tyson? Hilary? What are you two doing there?" Daichi asked, recognizing their voices.

"Get us out of here, Daichi!"

"You got it! Step back!"

In a flash Strata Dragoon was dashing through the air and smashed into the top of the door, cutting it in a single downward motion. The doors burst open and the freezing air escaped under the guise of white mist.

Thankful for the heat of the sun, Hilary tried stepping outside, but lost her senses and collapsed on the floor. While Tyson kneeled next to her to try and wake her up, Ellivah entered the warehouse with Daichi and said they should leave the place and get them both warmed up. As Tyson and Ellivah carried Hilary outside the warehouse, the shade of a scarved person blocked some of sun's rays.

"What happened here?"

Chapter 2 – _"Even"_

After Kai put Hilary on Tyson's bed he joined him, Daichi, Kenny and Ellivah, who had all gathered at the dojo. Kenny was still upset about what had just taken place and Tyson was about to catch a mean cold, so both of them sipped on tea that grampa Granger had prepared under their request. Once Kai sat down with the rest of them, Tyson told them how Hilary had been used to lure him to that freezer, and how there was a boy there to challenge him.

"His bit-beast was insane, you could feel its power," he said. "And it was huge, too. But then… Somehow that power grew too strong and the bit-beast started to break, so I attacked it and it shattered, but the power made this storm that vanished when… Ok, this might sound crazy, but when a guy dressed in black, just like a ninja, opened the door. And then the bastard locked us in after he got the kid and his beyblade!"

"A ninja?" Laughed Daichi. "You sure you aren't reading too much manga?"

"That's what he looked like!"

"What do you know about this?"

Kai's voice rose from the bickering, aimed towards Ellivah.

"You were being chased by someone just like that before you stormed inside my room, and you lead Daichi straight to that freezer."

"Oh yeah, that's right, you did," he said, as if it hadn't been clear to him before.

After a moment of silence, pondering carefully on what to say, she looked back up to them:

"The people who attacked you must have been the same people who kept me captive. I'm afraid I can't tell you much, but I know what they want. They're trying to copy an extremely powerful bit-beast. My mother was the leader of their scientific team, but an experiment went wrong and she passed away. The group thought that she kept her data somewhere, but she kept most of what's important on her head. I didn't think they could even try to pursue it anymore, but what you described feels just the same. Thankfully, it seems that they failed again."

"What do they want that for?" Kenny asked.

"All I know is that the bit-beast they're trying to copy is closely related to an old legend very few know about, because it was deemed to be forbidden knowledge a long time ago."

"A legend?" Tyson asked. "All of this for something that's probably not even true?"

"Why do you think they went after you in particular?" Ellivah asked back.

"Oh, I dunno, maybe because I'm the world champion, or maybe they're just after Dragoon again."

"But you shouldn't know about that," Kai said, implying that she did know just how special Tyson's bit-beast was.

"Your power, or rather, Dragoon's, could be related to that legend, somehow."

Suddenly the door to the dojo flung open, and the five of them turned to see who was barging in.

"Ozuma? What are you doing here?" Tyson asked, standing up. Followed by the rest of the Saint Shields, all of them gasped for air, as if they had crossed a great distance in short time, with the urgency of the matter clearly on their faces.

"We need to talk to you," he answered between breaths. "All of you."

"Where's Ray and Max?" Asked Mariam.

"They're back home, they're going to enter the world championship under their home countries," Kenny answered.

"Then let them know this. Someone's coming after your bit-beasts again."

"Big deal, I already got attacked today," Tyson said with a shrug. "But the situation's under control. Dragoon's still safe with me."

"We were too late?" Mariam said with a horrified expression.

"Hey, look, it's no big deal, we can handle these guys-" Tyson tried to say to calm her down.

"No, Tyson, you don't understand. This is worse," Ozuma interrupted.

"How come? Hey, you're the ones who came here and said we're in danger, you owe us some kind of explanation," Tyson demanded when he didn't answer immediately.

With a sigh, Ozuma ordered the rest of his team to come inside the dojo and sit down opposite to them.

"She needs to leave, first," he said pointing at Ellivah.

"I'm familiar with the people who are interested in their bit-beasts. They held me captive. I'm not your opponent, I assure you."

"You know the legend?" When she nodded back, Ozuma's face relaxed a bit. "Alright, then you can stay," then he faced the rest of them. "You remember that we have a mission to ensure that the Sacred Bit-Beasts won't fall into the wrong hands and cause chaos like they did centuries ago."

"Of course we do," Tyson answered.

"I don't," Daichi said.

"It was from before you joined the team, now shut up."

"Wait a minute, you tried to make Ells leave but you didn't say anything to Daichi? Why?" Kenny asked.

"Because his Strata Dragoon is a special Sacred Bit-Beast too," Ozuma replied. "We didn't go after it at the time because it was sealed inside of him."

"How did you know that?" He asked.

"Wait, you're kidding, right? You said there were only four of them!" "Tyson said.

"I lied. We were trying to seal your bit-beasts, you didn't need to know the details."

"I get it. Daichi's Strata Dragoon is the fifth Sacred Bit-Beast that you were supposed to seal, but didn't because that job was already done for you," Kai said to shut up both Tyson and Daichi.

"Exactly. When we tracked it down after it was released, Daichi was already a member of your team, and we chose not to pursue it anymore."

"Okay, so what? What does that have to do with what's going on now?" Tyson asked.

"There are two more bit-beasts that we're supposed to seal, but whose whereabouts were lost to history. Only our clan knew about their existence, but we've never managed to find them before. We called them the Equilibrium, one of Dark and one of Light. It's said each of them can defeat all five Sacred Bit-Beasts at the same time."

"A bit-beast capable of defeating all five of us at the same time? No, wait, two of them?" Tyson repeated, unable to believe his own words.

"In terms of raw power, they should have more or less the same as your bit-beasts, so in theory they can get taken out just as easily as they can take anyone of you down," Joseph said. "But yes, they can definitely do that."

"Our tribe's chief recently let an acquaintance inside of our village to study our manuscripts. Our chief hoped that this man could help us shed some light on the location of the Equilibrium bit-beasts, and he was very happy to be able to share the culture of our clan to the world." Ozuma said.

"Everything would've turned out okay if he hadn't been kidnapped by some damn shady organization a couple of days after he left," Dunga finished.

"With the information this man has in his possession it's possible that they're on track to capture one of the Equilibrium bit-beasts right now."

"That man must be rescued," Ellivah said with determination. "Do you know where he's being held?"

"It was our next stop after coming here to warn you," Mariam said. "And getting something to eat. I'm starving."

"Alright, then. After you guys have your rest we should be good to go," Tyson said getting up.

"Wait, you aren't actually thinking about going with us, are you?" Ozuma said.

"Of course. If you guys are that scared of the Equilibrium or whatever it is, then it has to be a big deal. We need to stop them before they actually get their hands on it."

"You're not coming, Tyson. That's out of the question."

"You're kidding, right? Why not?"

"Why- Because you'll be jeopardizing yourself and Dragoon if go with us. I'm not having that!" Ozuma shouted back at him.

"Don't worry, I'll go in your stead," Ellivah said standing up as well, facing Tyson.

"I appreciate the concern, but you'll be better off here to take care of that, while I'll go out and try to help," Tyson said, pointing at Ellivah's leg, still bandaged, and turning back to the Saint Shields. "You wanna have another fight to see if I'm still capable of taking care of my bit-beast, Ozuma?"

"That's not the point," Ellivah interrupted. "It's way too dangerous for you to go and risk facing the Equilibrium, and losing Dragoon because of it."

"She's smart, Tyson, I'd listen to her," Joseph said.

"Bullshit, if that thing can be taken down easily then I'll win, no sweat."

"Yeah, lemme at it! I wanna see just how powerful it actually is," Daichi said, getting excited with the whole idea.

"You people are idiots, didn't you just listen to a single word we've-"

Everyone silenced when, after taking a deep sigh, Ellivah buried a punch so deep in Tyson's face that he fell to the ground, knocked out of his senses.

"Do you also really want to go?" She asked Daichi, who froze at the sight.

"No, I'm good. I'll stay," he said raising his hands.

_He found himself inside of an enormous mansion, reminding of those he saw on old TV shows or his dad's files. He had been forced to trim his hair to his master's liking, as he was a part of his personal guard, fulfilling his end of a bargain to keep his close friend from being killed. It was painful watching the pledges of the people, some he knew, many others that he didn't, go unanswered and laughed at, so many injustices unfolding before his very eyes and being unable to do anything about them without risking losing her. It made him consider escaping that land with her to keep her safe, but his master was smart and didn't trust him, so he wasn't even allowed to leave the mansion's walls or call his spirit without consent._

_His sword was the only company he had left and, as he polished it alone on one of the courtyards, watched by the gentle moonlight, a lady in robes emerged from the dark of the porch and approached him. The master's brides weren't allowed to make contact with anyone outside of the master himself and the other brides, so he kept his head low and waited for her to go wherever she was headed._

"_You look so silly," a familiar voice said with a stuffy laugh. His heart dropped from his chest as he recognized his friend behind the robes._

"_Hina? What are you doing here?" He asked getting up and quickly looking around to make sure they were alone. "He didn't, he took you as a bride… but how?"_

_She laughed again and lowered her hood, revealing a face much like a Hilary who had let her hair grow out a bit._

"_Being the bride of that disgusting old man? Never. I'm here to help you get out of here. This is just a disguise, no one even noticed," she said grabbing her robes. The relief that filled him was almost heretic, but she didn't notice it, touching a lock of his hair and frowning at it._

"_I liked your hair better the way it was before… Maybe we can fix it."_

_Giving thanks to the dark that kept her from seeing the colour of his cheeks, something else caught their eye and both looked up to the sky, seeing a spirit shaped like a frog crossing the top of the courtyard._

"_That's the signal," Hina said. "We need to go. Call your spirit."_

_In ordinary circumstances he would play hard to get and not just obey a command like if she was his queen, but that was far from the case and he focused on the dragon that made its home on his back. He was surrounded by blue light and Dragoon materialized next to him, waiting for him to climb. He then turned to Hina and held out his hand for her, but she smiled at him and shook her head._

"_I won't need a ride."_

_Instead of blue, a similar white light enveloped her and a dragon almost as large as Dragoon materialized next to her. As she climbed to its back, its green eyes stared at him while he looked at its plumed wings and sprinkled blue and pink scales and feathers in a white background, unable to believe that she of all people had been chosen to wield a spirit._

"_This is Dawn," she said. "Let's go!"_

_Her dragon spread its wings and took it to the skies, and Dragoon quickly followed._

"_When did you find out about her?" He shouted._

"_After you got locked in there. It's a long story," she answered, and then she pointed out at the frog, crouching on the roof of the mansion, waiting for them. "That's Kenichi and Dizzira, his spirit."_

_On top of the frog, Kenichi was exactly like Kenny but without the glasses, which had him wonder if he could see at all through that hair. As they approached them, an alarm bell rang on the mansion and they were forced to fight. Other people like himself, who had been made to battle for the lord of the land, ended up joining forces with them as they realized they had a chance, and the Lord and his cohort were forced to escape._

_When things settled down and the former soldiers and household used their freedom to reunite with their families, the three of them sat on the central courtyard to rest for a while. It was likely that the lord would come back with a bigger force in order to reclaim his mansion, but after that victory they wanted to savour it. He and Kenichi spoke about their past, and he told him how he had met Hina and how they had planned for his rescue together. She ended up falling asleep on his shoulder, unable to keep up with their raw energy, and while he kept talking with Kenichi, in the back of his head he vowed to protect her from anything that was to come._

Three days went by without any news of the Saint Shields or Ellivah. Later during the day they left, Hilary's father dropped by Tyson's place to take her back home, and on the next day both she and Tyson woke up with a cold to be remembered. Unsurprisingly, he protested against Ellivah's dirty move and how she was definitely not prepared to go with the Shields on such a dangerous mission, but the cold stopped him from getting too noisy and eventually he dropped it. Helping to that was the strange fact that Tyson's mood had grown exponentially better since he had first found out about Hilary's boyfriend, and although Daichi inquired him frequently about it, he shouted back a few words and never got into too much detail about what had happened with him and Hilary them after the ninja locked them inside the freezer.

On the third day, Tyson was prepared to practice with Daichi and Kai again, even if Hilary was still recovering, and the three of them followed Kenny's instructions and courses to improve their performance and their beyblades.

That night, the sound of a dog's whine woke up Kai. It wasn't strange listening to dogs bark out on the streets, but not whining and certainly not close enough that it had to be just outside the dojo. Checking that Tyson and Daichi were soundly snoring and that Kenny's sleep was undisturbed, he quietly left and headed out to the back.

Lying under the porch was a large, dark brown dog, which wouldn't faze him much if not for the horn in the center of its forehead, the bat-like wings that spawned on its back and the intangible dark, misty aura around it. As it heard the stranger approach, the beast turned its head and snarled but, almost as if recognizing him, it stopped and looked at him attentively with its ears perked up. Staying cautious, Kai crept closer and slowly put out his hand for the beast to smell. It did just so, and after glancing again at the sharp horn on its head Kai managed to take a peak between his paws to find a large backpack resting there. The dog caught his attention by shoving his hand with its nose, and he tried scratching its ears. It remained immobile while he did so, but it suddenly pulled its head back and, making sure he was paying attention, it turned towards the sky and howled, in a deep and somewhat sad tone. Then, before he realized it, the beast turned into a dark light and pierced his right shoulder.

He suddenly felt something alive inside of him, something that moved and whose thoughts he could almost listen to. Behind his naked shoulder was the image of the hound he had just touched.

Dusk.

But how did he know its name?

He turned towards the backpack that had been left on the porch and opened it. Although the laptop inside was protected with a password, there were enough notes and pictures that Kai could be fairly certain that everything inside belonged to Mr. Granger, Tyson's father, and that he had been studying folklore from the Saint Shields's tribe.

The following day, before Tyson got up and he could tell him what had happened, grampa Granger approached Kai with a phone call for him.

"It's been a long time."

"What do you want?" Kai asked when he recognized Hiro's voice on the other side of the line.

"I think you have something that belongs to my father."

"How do you know…"

"I had a hunch. But, honestly, no one but you should be awake at that time of the night."

"And? What if I have it?"

"Hide it. Don't tell Tyson about it. The Saint Shields will be back in three days, they'll tell you what happened."

"What's going on? Who's that girl?"

"I'm not sure yet, and I can't tell you what little I know because of my contract."

"Contract?"

"I'm counting on you, Kai."

And with that Hiro hung up, leaving only a beeping signal on Kai's ear. With a grunt, he turned around to return the phone to their host, deciding to do Hiro's bidding for the time being. He'd hide the backpack, keep his mouth shut and wait three days before taking matters into his own hands.

It was only at the end of the week that Hilary managed to leave her bed, still in a bad mood and keeping a scarf around her neck. Too much time had passed without training and without issuing commands at the guys to get them in shape and ready for their tournament. They were almost done with lunch when she met with them, so she quickly had Tyson and Daichi finish whatever they were having and hauled them into the back.

Someone jumped from the wall in the back on the house and landed in front of them as they crossed the garden.

"You're back!" Said Tyson as Ozuma stood straight and Mirian, Joseph and Dunga landed after him.

"You can take care of the rest," their leader said.

"Wait, that's my dad!" Tyson shouted as he took a better look at the unconscious man that Dunga carried on his back.

"And you'd better tell Dunga where we can leave him before you start yelling at us," Mirian said crossing her arms and keeping her voice low.

"Stay right there."

He called inside the dojo and made sure Grampa would lead Dunga to his room before rushing to come back.

"You were going to rescue my dad and you didn't tell me?" He shouted.

"I told you, we didn't want you to come and endanger yourself, your bit-beast or any of us by joining us on that mission," Ozuma said. Then, reactively, his fists clenched. "But none of that matters now because of that moron!"

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Tyson asked.

"And where's Ells?" Hilary asked, having noticed her absence while Tyson was gone.

"She's the holder of the Dark Equilibrium," he answered. "And she waltzed right back into their hands! How could I not see it?"

"What?"

"But that's impossible, she didn't even have a beyblade on her, right, Kai?" Tyson said turning towards him, to which he merely shook his head.

"She doesn't need one. She can materialize her bit-beast," Mariam said.

"Materialize her bit-beast? What's that supposed to mean?" Tyson asked.

"You know, Tyson, beyblades are pretty recent, so before that people needed something else to host their bit-beasts," Joseph said. "On the legend that has been passed down on in our clan, they're called spirits and they lived inside of people instead."

"No way, how's that possible?"

"Some people had the power to separate themselves from their spirits, and that was called materializing the spirit," Mirian explained. "If they succeeded, when the spirit returned inside of their body a tattoo would show their aspect, just like the engraving we have on our beyblades' bits."

"Something like this, then?"

Kai revealed the skin of his right shoulder, revealing the drawing of a horned hound with demon-like wings on its back, which shocked Ozuma and the siblings.

"That's it, the Dark Equilibrium Bit-Beast! Dusk!"

"How did that end up there?" Kenny asked.

"It showed up the other night with Mr. Granger's backpack," he answered, covering his shoulder again. "I thought something went wrong with your rescue, but I wanted to hear from you before going to find out what."

"We can't really seal that thing without killing him, Ozuma," Joseph said after a moment of silence.

"I know that."

"Whoa, what do you mean?" Tyson asked. Since Ozuma only bit his lip, it was Mariam who had to explain what had happened.

"When we got to Tyson's dad he said that his backpack was missing and that included his laptop, with most of his notes and all the information he had on the legend. When he told us that, Ellivah materialized Dusk and told us the two of them would go after it."

"Imagine our faces when we saw that," Joseph said. "She played us for fools, alright."

"But we had to leave. I gave her the same ultimatum I gave you. If something happened to her or to her bit-beast, we were going to seal it and take it back to our village, and she swore she'd protect it," Ozuma said. "We waited until dawn, but she didn't come back out of their compound."

"But she kept her promise. She got the backpack and Dusk's safe," Hilary said.

"It's not going to stay on my shoulder forever," Kai said. "We need to get her out."

"We can't go back out now, we're exhausted," Mariam said.

"But we have a duty to make sure that thing can't be used," Ozuma said. Then, with a sigh, he continued. "As much as I hate it, we have no choice but to ask you for help. We'll take you to their compound and we'll help you escape."

"Okay," Tyson said, turning towards Kenny and his laptop. "Dizzi, it's time to hack some nasty people's computers. Think you're up to the task?"

"I thought you'd never ask," she replied.

Chapter 3 – _"Rescue"_

"Let's go over the plan one more time," Kenny insisted.

"Again? It's the seventh time we've gone over the plan since we got here," Tyson answered with a bummed out voice.

"Yes, again. This is the last place we can plug in Dizzi. It's an almost half-an-hour walk there and we can't keep her switched on, or we won't have enough battery."

"But I've already told you the plan by heart a bunch of times. Even Daichi knows it at this point."

"Hey, don't put me together with you," he said from the other side of the table.

"He's right, Tyson, we both know how good you are with memorization, or your grades wouldn't be as bad, now would they?" Hilary said, her arms crossed, sitting between Daichi and Kai, who stared out the window and didn't say a word.

They had just finished dinner on a roadside coffee shop before they had to leave and execute their plan. On the table behind them sat Ozuma, Mariam, Joseph and Dunga, who had kept a low profile and hadn't talked much during the whole meal.

Three days before the group decided to turn to Mr. Dickenson for help to rescue Ellivah. When they told him the location of the compound where she was likely being kept, he said one of the spokesmen of the millionaire who had funded the tournament was to meet him in a town near the place, so he could deploy the company's bus and give them a lift. Then, he could wait in town for a couple of days until they were done to bring them back home.

Using some of their savings they managed to afford a cheap motel, save for the Shields, who were used to stay hidden in the brush, and they all worked together to scout around the imposing, isolated building, taking Dizzi with them to infiltrate their network and gather data about their security system and the layout of the building. As the bit-beast found flaws in their cameras, the boys determined the guards' rounds, and the Shields told them what they had seen inside and how they had entered unnoticed before, eventually they managed to draw out a solid plan to find and bring Ellivah back.

"Alright," Kenny said, after making sure Tyson knew what he was supposed to do. "I hope you'll still remember everything by the time we get there."

"Of course I will," he answered, swallowing the last fork of chicken breast.

"Can we go now?" Daichi asked, feeling bored, restless and dying to get things going.

"Yes, we can."

Tyson's group got up, paid for their dinner and left the coffee shop. As the Saint Shields travelled faster, they would join them later to draw the least amount of attention to the huge group entering the woods at night for no good reason. Even five people felt like a little too much, especially with a girl among them.

The safest entry point they had found was an air duct that went through the entire building and shouldn't have cameras, that Ozuma's team couldn't use before because of a cooling fan spinning at the entrance, that sent a signal to the main security computer if it stopped for some reason. With Dizzi forcing the signal to be sent to her instead, it was no longer an issue.

They met with the Shields by the fan and Kenny opened up Dizzi to set up the op.

"Alright, guys, take these and put them on," he said lifting four devices attached to a string that could be put around their necks. Each device contained a tracker connected to Dizzi and a radio that could be used to talk with a master transmitter, which would be in Hilary's possession. Daichi, Kai, Tyson and Ozuma all took a device and tested them to make sure they were working properly. The Shields then disappeared among the treetops while Kenny linked Dizzi to the compound's network to block the signal from the fan. Although there should be no rounds during that hour, Ozuma's team would be keeping watch to make sure there were no setbacks, and let Hilary and Kenny know if they had to leave that location.

After Tyson, Daichi and Kai had their maps, each indicating where they should search for Ellivah, they stopped the fan and blended in the dark of the air duct. Positioned behind Kenny, who was making sure the security system didn't locate them, Hilary transmitted any obstacle the boys would meet on their path that wasn't on the maps they held.

Once Hilary confirmed there were nothing his way, Kai advanced through the duct doused in cold darkness, only broken by the grids where air was supposed to cycle through the rooms, bringing light whenever it was switched on. Using one of those splinters of light, Kai took the chance to look at his map, scratch the rooms he had already been through and continue, as silently as possible, feeling the bit-beast housed on his shoulder rustle from impatience.

He could only perceive a small portion of what Dusk thought or felt, but it was enough for him to be capable of understanding her. At first she had been sad and in anguish but slowly, and resentfully, she accepted her situation. And then, the closer they were around the building and the day of the operation drew nearer, the more excited and restless she was, looking forward to being with Ellivah again. And Kai felt it all. It was strange and intrusive to the point of being unconfortable. He had always preferred to keep his thoughts and memories to himself, and having an intelligent mind so close to his was intimidating, to say the least. However, even though Kai could tell her general feelings, and he was sure Dusk could do the same about him, he knew she didn't pry openly into his mind. Had that girl influenced the beast to behave like that?

He kept moving, so Dizzi didn't pick up on his internal questioning, but someone else got her attention.

"Tyson's stayed still for quite a while."

"Hilary, ask Tyson's what's going on," Kenny asked in an almost automated voice.

"Ok," she answered, pressing the button on the master transmitter to talk to him. "Tyson, why did you stop?"

No reply came from the other side.

"You think something happened?" She asked leaning over the monitor and feeling her heart tight on her chest.

"I don't know, we haven't heard anything," Kenny answered.

"Tyson, come in, what happened to you?" Hilary asked on the transmitter again, choking a shout on her throat.

"Sorry, someone could've heard me before," his voice replied. "I was above their cafeteria, I eavesdropped on something interesting. An intruder's being held on room 21B, and it sounds like a big boss has arrived today to question her. I don't know if the intruder's really Ells or not, but we should go check."

"Kenny-"

"Yeah, we got it," he said working with Dizzi to find out where the room Tyson had mentioned was. When one of the rooms on her monitor started to flash, Hilary checked in on her maps and flipped the red switch.

"Kai, we've got something for you to check out. Ells might be in room 21. Their boss's going there to question her, so you have to get there as fast as you can."

"Right."

After stopping next to another beam of light to look at the map, Kai realized that he could easily make a straight line towards the room Hilary had told him to check. There was only one access to the room from the air duct, from which echoed two male voices and thudding sounds, as if they were beating something while they spoke.

Once Kai managed to peek inside the room through the grating, he saw a bulky man holding a stark naked Ellivah's hands firmly behind her back, while another one buried a punch on her stomach, strong enough to make her cough. When he shifted his head to look around the room, his brain froze for a second when it captured Boris, sitting on a bed and playing with his fingernails.

An old, angry flame burned deep from within Kai before he could even realize it, but a jolt of pain on his shoulder brought him back to his senses. Dusk was even more enraged.

"I'm done wasting my time. Where's Dusk?" He asked, looking up from his hands to the girl once she regained her breath.

"It's your fault you didn't listen to me before. I don't know," she replied. Although she kept her usual composure, Kai could feel hatred much too similar from his on her own words.

The man holding her threw her backwards and she slamed against the wall, holding out her hands just in time not to break her nose. As she slid down onto the floor Boris got up and signalled the men to follow him outside the room, letting a woman in a lab coat enter with a light blue tunic and large pants that she made sure Ellivah wore before leaving and locking the door behind her.

"This is the place. Start jamming the signal," Kai muttered to the device once he was sure no one else was to come inside the cell. Dizzi would have to replace the camera footage for something similar that wouldn't show him or Ellivah leaving, and he couldn't make contact with her until then.

After she got dressed she remained immobile, sitting on the bed until the footsetps of the people who had paid her a visit faded. Suddenly she started coughing hard, covering her mouth but still letting something like blood fall to the floor. Something in his heart gave in for her at the same time as his hatred for Boris grew stronger. The beating had to have been worse then he had originally thought, and she had not let herself break through it all.

"Kai, you're good to go," Hilary's voice came through. "Daichi and Tyson are coming back and Ozuma and the guys say the coast's clear on their side too."

"Ok."

After removing the grating from its place, Kai stuck his head outside the vent. Hearing a voice call for her, Ellivah turned her head and couldn't stop a surprised stare from escaping her cold eyes.

"You?"

"We're going to get you out of here. Can you stand?"

She got up from the bed and stumbled unconsciously, but walked towards him and let him pull her up to the vent. Ellivah put the grating back in its place while Kai took another look at the map and, after memorizing the way back, he told Hilary they were coming back and led the way. They were silent the whole time, but a dripping noise sounded every once in a while.

After a couple of minutes Hilary contacted him, saying that Tyson and Daichi were already with them and the Shields still saw nothing out of the ordinary. Putting down the device after telling her everything was fine, Ozuma looked back at one of the windows, where he could see several bright computer screens and two shadows of people chilling on chairs, keeping an eye on the monitors and maybe talking to each other. Suddenly, someone barged in the room, yelled something at them, and with the press of some keys a loud siren echoed around the conpound.

Ozuma rapdly reached for his device.

"Hilary, where are they?"

"They just came back out," she replied.

"Make a run for it, we'll create a diversion. We'll meet back at your motel in a couple of hours."

"Got it. Be careful," she answered after a moment of silence.

"Alright, guys, you heard that," Ozuma said taking out his beyblade and laucher. They had kept the walkie-talkies they had used in their first rescue and were using them to communicate to each other.

"Right."

Four bit-beasts rose from their beyblades and crashed into the building from all sides, making crumbling noises so loud that Tyson and Daichi couldn't help but turn around.

"What the hell was that?"

"Keep running, you two!" Hilary yelled out running past him, forcing them to follow her. Kenny and Kai, carrying Ellivah who was unable to run without coughing up more blood, closed the group. They only allowed themselves to slow down once they reached the road, and everything around them was silent. Panting, Kenny took his phone and, checking the time, called Mr. Dickenson.

"Good evening, Kenny, how may I help you?" He asked cheerfully.

"We did it, Mr. Dickenson! We saved Ells, but she's hurt badly, do you know someone who can take care of her?"

"Oh, my goodness, that's terrible," he answered, pausing for a moment as he thought. "Hmm, I might know someone who could help. Head for the end of Turner Street and look for an apartment building with shaded windows on the ground floor. I'll let him know that you'll be coming."

"Thank you Mr. Dickenson, we'll let you know once we get there."

Using the last of Dizzi's battery they used a local map from the Internet to find the street they had been sent to, and Tyson and Daichi dashed ahead to look for the building. As they waved Hilary, Kenny and Kai in front of one of the doors, a car pulled over next to them and, once the engine was turned off, a man with grumpy face and grizzly hair emerged from it.

"You're the kids Dickenson sent here?" He asked.

"Yeah. Can you do something?" Tyson answered, as the others joined them. During the phone call Ellivah had passed out, and she was still being carried by Kai. The man glanced at her and then at the rest of them and turned for the door.

"Follow me."

He unlocked the bulding and turned on a flashlight, letting them in before closing the door. Even by the dim light, they could tell they were in small street clinic that was supposed to be closed. The man entered one of the rooms and turned on its lights, urging them to come inside. While he pulled out a stethoscope from one of the drawers of the doctor's table, Kai laid Ellivah on the stretcher and then stepped back to let him take her pulse, listen to her heart and lungs and palpate her abdomen.

"She's got at least one broken rib and she'll have a lot of contusions by tomorrow, but she'll be fine," he said, standing up and heading for the cabinets on the wall behind the desk. "But she can't stay here for too long. You'll have to leave by midday tomorrow."

"Can I stay here with her?" Hilary asked.

"If you want to."

"You sure about that?" Tyson whispered to her while the man prepared a bag of saline and a catheter.

"Yeah, I want to make sure she's fine," she replied. "You'll have to go back to the motel to meet with Ozuma and the rest."

"We'll leave it to you, then. We'll be here to pick you up in the morning."

After the boys left the man kept working, giving Ellivah a dose of morphine and leaving another one with the cap still on the needle ready to be used in case she woke up during the night. After giving her a dose of antibiotics and checking up on her one last time, he handed Hilary a blanked and, once she said she'd be fine, he claimed he would stay in the room next door and left them, turning off the lights.

The sunlight, filtred by dim windows and blinds, grew stronger as morning ticked on, until it finally woke her up. It was hard to breath, as if her ribs had lost their strenght, and she lazily looked around until she saw a bag of saline hanging above her head. Ellivah tried to jump from the bed to escape wherever she was, but a jolt of pain stroke her chest and she barely managed to suffocate a scream on her throat.

"Whoa, calm down, you're safe, it's okay."

Someone had rushed to help her lay back down, but only when she reopened her eyes did she see her.

"Hilary…" The memories from being taken from her cell by Kai finally came to her, and she took a deep breath. "He was right, you did get me out of that place."

"Yeah," she answered with a pleased smile. "The guys should be coming soon to take us back home."

While she told her all about how they had arrived to that clinic, the man who had assisted them the night before opened the door to their room, letting the Saint Shields inside.

The heavy tone that set in when Ells and Ozuma locked eyes with each other stopped Hilary from even thanking them for their help the previous night.

"You kept your word. I'll give you that much," he said in a chilling tone. "However, that doesn't justify any of your actions."

"No one should have to go through what I did," she answered after a moment of silence. "I couldn't risk them finding whomever has the Light Equilibrium and use them like they've used me."

"We'll give you time to recover. You have two weeks to get a beyblade and prepare. We'll be coming for Dusk."

"What? She doesn't even-"

"Back off, Hilary, this doesn't concern you," Dunga interrupted her.

"I understand," Ells answered with a nod. "We'll be ready."

The four of them turned around and left, crossing with Tyson and the rest on the way out the clinic.

"We're going on ahead," Ozuma said.

"You're leaving? Now?" Daichi asked.

"There's some things we need to take care of," Joseph answered. "And I'm pretty sure you can't screw this up unless you really wanted to."

"Very funny," Tyson replied crossing his arms.

"We'll see you back at your place, Tyson. Hope you have those patties ready for us," Mariam said, leaving the clinic behind her team members.

"Hey, those were never yours to begin with!" He shouted back, but he quickly turned around and entered the room with the rest of the boys.

"I was just telling Ells how we rescued her," Hilary was saying.

"You could've all lost your bit-beasts and get locked up by them. You shouldn't have come for me," she answered, wiping the smile from Hilary face and prompting a response from Tyson and Daichi. However, before any of them could say anything, she continued with a rare smile. "But I'm very touched that you did. Thank you very much."

Shining and soften by their actions, her half-hidden eyes seemed like a summer's morning sky instead of icy cold.

"You helped Dizzi return to me. It was the least we could do," Kenny replied. "Oh, and Kai has something that belongs-"

Before he could finish his sentence, a dark light erupted from his shoulder and took shape on the floor, keeping herself not much bigger than a shepherd dog.

"Dusk…" Ells thought aloud, overjoyed, as the bit-beast put its paws over the stretcher to greet her. She scratched it behind its ears, just like Kai had done and, when it was pleased, it became light again and pierced Ellivah's shoulder, anxious for a mind it had always known.

"How about you tell us everything this time?"

Her smile vanished from her face and she looked away from them. Before they had left to save Tyson's father, while she and the Shields ate Tyson's defrozen supplies, Kai warned her that he was well aware that she hadn't shared everything about her connection with the Equilibrium not because she didn't know, but because she didn't trust them. Keeping that front would be spiting on everything they had just done for her.

With a deep breath to inhale a little bit of courage, she eventually replied, facing them again.

"Very well. I owe you that much. I was born with Dusk's aspect imprinted on me. Both my parents worked in Russia for Boris Balkov and Voltaire Hiwatari at the time."

"Then you were in the abbey where Kai grew up," Kenny said a bit surprised.

"Maybe," she answered, glancing at him. "They thought it was very interesting, being born with a bit-beast inside of me, and Boris convinced my mother that I should be a part of the program that was preparing the children there. She was thrilled to be able to be a closer part of his research, and even though my father didn't like the idea so much, he also agreed to do it. I spent a lot of time on the last floor, while they tested me and Dusk, and they found out that the more I knew and the stronger I was, the more powerful she became. When my room stopped being big enough for me to train, they implemented curfew so that none of the other kids could see me while I was outside. It was only broken once when a boy decided to go train by himself, and they let him stay and train with me, but I was medicated to keep Dusk under control, and I don't really remember his face."

"Do you know who it was, Kai?" Tyson asked looking back towards him.

He had to lie.

"No."

"It's alright," Ellivah said. "I think I would've remembered seeing you there by now, so I believe we've never crossed paths before."

"Then you know how to play beyblade?" Hilary asked. She had thought that she'd be in trouble against the Saint Shields, but was starting to think otherwise.

"Yes. One of the first things I learned was to transfer Dusk to a bit, and I did need to learn the game in accordance to Voltaire's plans. It was around that time, too. They discovered that Dusk could inject something they called "Dark Power" into other bit-beasts, making them far stronger, but draining their wielders until victory. Or death. I didn't want to use the Dark Power, and my father drew the line there. He threatened to take me away from the abbey if they forced me to use it," she fell silent for a moment before continuing. "My mother faked my death and blamed it on him to drive him away for good."

"No way…" Hilary said feeling her heart drop.

"That's pretty low," Daichi said.

Ellivah kept going with her story not to dwell on her actions for too long, as it always made her stomach sommersault. "I kept refusing to use Dark Power, so they drew blood from me when Dusk was inside of me, looking for something they could use to recreate it. My mother succeeded, using Dark Power and a copy of another bit-beast, and then planted the result into a special Beyblade made by Rasputin himself. It was during the final transformation process that she was caught in a blast of energy, and died. That thing was called DarkDranzer."

"You're the reason DarkDranzer was created?" Tyson asked, unable to believe his own words.

"You could say that, yes," she replied.

"What's DarkDranzer?" Daichi asked.

"Only Kai's biggest mistake," Tyson answered. "He threw away his Dranzer to use DarkDranzer because it was stronger, but me and the old phoenix brought him back to his senses, right, buddy?"

"Watch it, Tyson," he replied in a tone that clearly showed he wasn't too proud of his decision back then, and the mocking tone didn't help.

"You weren't the one who tried to use it before, right?" Ells asked Kai.

He had to lie again, and shook his head.

"Someone tried to use it before him?" Hilary asked, to which Ells nodded.

"Just after DarkDranzer was complete. It destroyed part of the building, including the place where I was being kept at the time. I tried to escape, but I saw someone wounded on the floor, the same boy who had broken curfew and trained with me. I couldn't leave him there. I stayed with him and called for help. After that they moved me from the abbey, to another place where they could keep things under better control. I stayed there years until Dizzi appeared on the building's network. I talked to her with Dusk's help, helped her find her way back to Kenny's computer, and she hacked the network so that I could escape that place. I travelled alone for a while until I met someone who helped me get back on my feet, but I left because I didn't want to put him in danger. Eventually I got tracked down by Boris, and I was running away from one of his men when I tried to hide in an empty room, which wasn't empty after all."

With one final sigh, Ellivah left a heavy load lift from her shoulders while Kai's head raced unlike ever before. That was why she was familiar to him. His memories of her were so distant that he had begun to believe them to be nothing but dreams, but now he knew it had actually happened.

He was new to the abbey, he wanted to impress his grandfather, and all of the other boys seemed to hate him, the reason for which he couldn't care less. However, the older and stronger bullied him and, to get back at them as fast as possible, he had broken curfew. And then he saw her, supervised by a pair of adults who had scolded him at first, but then decided to let them train together. They didn't ask for each other's names, but she asked about a bruise on his cheek and told him it would be okay when he blurted out he had been punched during supper for no good reason.

It was snowing softly when she had to return to her quarters, and the breeze shaped it into something like a pair of wings of her back, making him believe that he had dreamt with an angel for a while.

He had only seen her again through the gaps on his eyes after releasing DarkDranzer for the first time. She had pulled him away from the fire and yelled for help, holding onto his hand and telling him everything would be all right.

A tingle of hate iched the back of his head when Kai found himself feeling not only respect, but also a little of admiration towards her.

"I think it was great that you found Kai on his room," Hilary said, breaking the silence. "Or you wouldn't have met us and wouldn't be here right now."

"That's true," she replied with a nod, letting another smile draw over her lips.

Shortly afterwards Mr. Dickenson arrived with the bus. After making sure the coast was clear, they brought Ells inside, laid her on one of the rows of seats and, giving their thanks to the man who had helped them, the vehicle drove them home.

Chapter 4 – _"Resemblances"_

_While they rested after another battle, he stood up and left, He had always preferred to be alone with his silent thoughts. He let his feet decide where to go, and they led him to a calm lake. On its edge he found a girl with long, wet lilac hair and skin glowing like marble in the moonlight, dressing a satin tunic. She almost felt like a goddess who had descended from the heavens to bathe on a sacred lagoon._

_When she noticed him, she stared him down and asked in a gentle voice, showing no fear._

"_Are you the one who is going to kill me?"_

"_Kill you?"_

_Why would I kill a goddess?_

_She seemed surprised by his reaction, but it only showed through a slight widening of her eyes and barely noticeable raise of an eyebrow. She tied her tunic and sat on the edge of the lake, staring into the dark, starry sky with melancholy, with a full moon spilling its gentle light, surrounded by the darkness of the quiet night. He sat next to her and looked ahead as well, but his eyes rested on the reflection of the moon, fragile, twisting with the slightest tremble of the water._

"_I could've killed you for being careless enough to lower your guard in front of a stranger," she said without changing her tone._

"_But you didn't," he replied, even though he cursed himself for allowing that to happen._

"_No, I did not," she said with a light smile. "I wonder why. A stranger spying on me as I bathe should deserve such courtesy."_

"_I did not spy on you."_

"_You didn't come to spy on me, and you didn't come to kill me. Why did you come here, then?"_

"_I seek some rest after the battle that was held not far from here during the day."_

"_You as well?"_

"_You were in the fight?"_

"_Yes… I can die at any moment and almost no one will care. All they will miss are my skills as an instrument of war, just like any other slave," she answered with a sad, lonely voice, of a kind he had never heard before._

"_A slave?" He asked, unable to believe such beauty had been shackled._

"_Yes," she answered, but then she looked back up into the sky and her tone changed back to what it was before. "It's a beautiful night."_

"_Yes, it is."_

"_A wise woman told me that when the moon dies on the first month of ice, I will die as well."_

"_But this is not the first month of ice, and tonight is a full moon. Why did you think I would kill you?"_

"_I was hoping you would. The wise woman said another two people will die with me, one because it's connected to me by blood and soul, and the other by my heart. If I die before that time, maybe they can both be saved."_

"_You could have been deceived."_

"_I have no course to take or any reason to live. You may think of death as punishment, a place of no return, but to me it would be release. To fly without wings, to be finally free…"_

_Her stare was lost in the vastness of her imagination, and a smile twisted in the corners of her lips, even though she didn't seem to notice it._

Almost a full two weeks had gone by since the group had returned with Ellivah, and she had finally allowed herself to leave Tyson's bed, feeling her injuries had recovered enough that she should have no more problems. Still wearing the pajamas Hilary had lent her, she climbed down the stairs and exited towards the back, where the loud voices of Daichi and Tyson could be heared as they trained with Kai and Kenny.

Recovered from the experience, Tyson's father had already taken off somewhere else, ready to keep following the clues that the tribe from deep inside the country had given him about those amazing creatures they called bit-beasts. His son voiced his worries loud and clear, disguised in shouts that he could work home just fine and that he was tired of dealing with Grampa and Daichi on his own, but, promising him he wouldn't let his guard down again and was meeting with Hiro, he left just the same.

A few days later Tyson's grandfather returned home with forms for everyone to sign into the elimination tournament to decide Japan's representatives for the World Beyblade Championship. Although she was still injured, Ellivah knew she would recover in time to participate, and decided to give it a try. She knew how to keep a low profile, even when battling, and no one should approach her in the middle of a crowd like the one that was expected in such a tournament. From the corner of her eye she had seen Hilary take another form and hide it on her jacket pocket, but she hadn't had the chance to confront her about it. However, she knew that even if Hilary was trying to participate, her job as the manager for the Bladebreakers took almost all of her time, and she wasn't practicing nearly as much as them.

That morning Hilary wasn't around, so none of them noticed Ellivah until she greeted them.

"Good morning," she said with a little bow.

"Hmm? Oh, Ells, you're up!" Kenny said looking back to her.

"That's great! How are you feeling?" Tyson asked.

"Much better, thank you. I should fine now."

"Then come and watch me kick Tyson's ass," Daichi said as he collected his beyblade after completing an obstacle course.

"Alright, but I'd like to know where Hilary is, if possible" she said, making sure she really wasn't there with them.

"She said she had stuff to do and wouldn't be back until after lunch," Tyson answered with a bit of an upset voice. "Which is fine by me. I won't have to eat her food and she can stay with her boyfriend for as long as she likes, it's time when she's not yelling at us."

"Boyfriend?" She asked, turning towards Kenny and Kai. The first shrugged and the second shook his head, as if Tyson had no idea what was he talking about. Since Hilary had never mentioned any boyfriend to her and they had been keeping each other company for a long time during those days, it was likely the case.

"Hello, everyone," grampa Granger cheerfully said, walking towards the dojo for his morning practice. "Oh, good morning lass, I see you're finally up."

"Yes, good morning, Mr. Granger," she answered with a slight bow.

"That's good, you can join our training."

"Yes, grampa, but we're traning with beyblades," Tyson said. "_Beyblades_, you hear?"

"You don't need any of those things, you need to work on your muscles with some twenty pushups and kendo. Come on!" He answered drawing his sword in front of them.

"Very well," Ellivah said with a nod.

"Are you sure about that, lass?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"I've been bedridden for far too too long. If you agree to have me as your pupil, I would greatly appreciate the exercise," she answered, lighting a huge smile on his face.

"You got it, lass. Come with me, we'll get you back in shape in no time," he said, escorting her inside of the dojo while Tyson stared at them with his jaw on the floor.

Just as she had expected, Hilary found the three boys training under Kenny's supervision, but Ells was watching, sitting on the porch still in pajamas as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"What are you doing down here with my pjs?"

"Oh, hello, Hilary. I was watching the boys practice, are you going to join us?"

"What took you so long?" Tyson asked. He was leaning in one of the porch's beams with his arms crossed while Kai and Daichi raced to complete an obstacle course.

"I had to guess her size," she said holding out a large bag in front of her.

"My size?" Ellivah asked. "For what? Weren't you going to lend me some of your clothes?"

"I got you some new ones instead," she answered enthusiastically, pulling her up from her seat. "We're going to take a nice bath, fix up your hair and then we're going to see what looks better on you."

Before she could even answer, Hilary was dragging her inside the house.

"Hey, what about training?" Tyson shouted with a bit of an indignant tone.

"You can do fine without me, so keep at it," she shouted back from afar.

"It's like Ells just became her new doll or something," Daichi said, scratching his head and done with his course.

"Do you wanna go take a peek?" Tyson whispered with a smirk.

"By the way, if any of you tries to spy on us I will hang his head on the dojo after skinning him alive," Hilary shouted again from outside the front door, before going inside and closing it.

"It's like she guesses…"

"I'm way too attached to my neck to lose it, Tyson. You can go without me," Kenny said as he rearranged the obstacles.

"Besides, why would you want to peek at an old hag and a tramp?" Daichi asked.

"Point taken."

It was Tyson's turn to test a new part Kenny had designed, and after he was done Daichi demanded a battle against him. Even though he wanted to battle Kai more, he accepted thinking he could end it quickly, but his summon for Dragoon was broken by Hilary's voice.

"Guys, we're done. What do you think?"

Next to her, after a slight bow, Ells straightned up and let everyone see her. All of the boys had some trouble recognizing the girl with no belongings and wild hair covering her face. She wore blue overalls and a pale yellow t-shirt, both just a number above her size. Her lilac hair had been properly brushed and tied in two bunches behind her back, revealing all of her face, with her light-blue, calm eyes brimming with self-control, and full pink lips, making a delicate curve that contrasted with her pale skin.

He didn't care too much, so Daichi quickly looked back at the stadium and tossed Dragoon out, which knocked hard on Tyson's head, forcing him out of the trance.

"What was that for?" He yelled at Daichi while he and Hilary burst out laughing and Ells gazed at them with a shade of confusion on her expression. The two boys quickly started another argument while Kenny got back to work after Kai touched his back with the side of his leg.

He had regained his senses when the beyblade hit Tyson, but he had been hopelessly drawn into the blue vastness of those sky-colored eyes and was unable to return by his own will. That disturbed him. No one, let alone a girl, had ever messed him up so much. The mystery that still lingered about her, a bit-beast of legend just like their own that she could commune with at will, something he had dreamt with so many times before, a common bond from their past, and that face… It was something that he had seen before in his sleep, a lonely gaze near a lake, frozen in the quietude of a mirror, reflecting the dark, starry sky and a shining full moon.

"Kenny, are we good to go?" Hilary asked.

"Yes," he said, closing Dizzi and standing up.

"Hey, you can go wherever you want, but Kenny stays here with us," Tyson said, still mad for allowing himself to lose that last fight.

"We need him," she answered crossing her arms. "Ells needs a beyblade to fight the Saint Shields the day after tomorrow, and he's agreed to help us."

"We won't be long. I've left some exercises ready for you guys to try after you're done with the individual battles," he said handing out a sheet with some instructions to Tyson. "Just tell me results when we get back."

Even if he wanted to protest, he perfectly understood what was at stake so he relunctantly agreed and turned towards the beystadium, asking Kai to have a match with him.

It had been a while since he had last been to the BB Shop, but Kenny kept in touch with Max's father, and the only reason why he hadn't looked into his wares recently was because he hadn't really need anything during the long hiatus the team had gone through. Having to build a beyblade from scratch was the perfect opportunity to see what was new with his own eyes, and it was also a nice change of pace from having to perfect the complicated beys that were Tyson, Kai, and Daichi's.

Almost like she had never been to a shop like that before, Ells stopped just for a moment to inspect the window before following Kenny and Hilary inside.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Tate," he said to the owner, who was wrapping up a sale for a couple of kids.

"Oh, hello Kenny. Are you here because of that beyblade you told me about?" He asked, crossing his arms.

"Exactly. This is Ells, she's the one who's going to need it," he said pointing with his hand towards her.

"Thank you very much for your help," she said with a bow.

"It's nothing, always a pleasure to help people who are trying to get back into the sport. So, do you remember what your old beyblade was like?"

As she answered that and many other questions about her playstyle and what she'd like her beyblade to be capable of doing, Mr. Tate and Kenny searched for several pieces, both from the shop and from Kenny's toolbox, and tried to combine them into what she was trying to recreate. A couple of hours later they managed to assemble a black and orange bey that excelled in speed and should be able to perform quick successions of attacks. Accepting Mr. Tate's invitation, they climbed down the basement for Ellivah to test it against the shop's robot.

"Have you been talking to Max, Mr. Tate?" Hilary asked while the robot finished setting up for the fight.

"Of course. He says he's been having a lot of fun, back with the All Starz, and he says good luck for your tournament," he answered. "Oh, that's right, he asked me to tell you that he got your email, Kenny. He says he'll be on the lookout."

"Alright."

"Is there something wrong? He didn't tell me anything else," he asked, while Hilary came to the conclusin that was probably the message from Ozuma and the others, about someone coming after their bit-beasts.

"It's no big deal. Just some stuff I asked him to keep an eye on."

With a beeping noise the robot warned it would begin countdown and Ells raised the laucher with her beyblade.

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

A dark arrow circled around the stadium, leaving the robot easily behind in an inner path. Suddenly the dark beyblade took a 90º angle and crashed into the robot's beyblade, drawing an arch and coming back to hit it again and again at an incredible speed. Once she was ready, Ells had her beyblade crash into the other one and throw it off the stadium while it used the same momentum to bounce right into her open hand.

"That was incredible!" Hilary said clapping her hands.

"It's exactly what I needed it to be," she said turning towards Kenny and Mr. Tate. "I cannot thank you enough."

"You're welcome. But it looked like you were struggling a little," Mr. Tate said. It was true that she had seen the beyblade wobble just a bit, but in the middle of such difficult manuvers Hilary didn't think it was a big deal.

"It's difficult to control, but I don't wish to trouble you with that. I can master it as it is."

"Do you think you'll have a chance?" Hilary asked.

"I most certainly will," she answered.

"Is there anything you'd like me to see about your beyblade, Hilary?" He asked. "Or is it still good?"

"O-oh, I don't have it with me but it's all good, Mr. Tate, thank you," she said, laughing nervously. She hadn't said anything to Ells about owning a beyblade, let alone that she was going to participate on the tournament and suffer the humiliation of a lifetime.

"I saw you pick up a signing form from the pile Mr. Granger brough with him the other day," Ells casually said. "If you're going to participate too, I believe we should practice together."

Caught completely off guard, Hilary could barely conjure up an answer.

"Huh, yeah, of course, but I've already started practicing with Kai and… Please, just don't tell Tyson or Daichi anything about this," she said joining her hands together and lowering her head, much like she was praying.

"Why not?" She asked while Mr. Tate had a small laugh with Hilary's reaction to the whole thing.

"Tyson might pick on her if he finds out that's she's a rookie player," he said. "And no one likes to be bullied."

"I see. You don't have to worry, Hilary. He won't know a thing from me."

When Hilary joined the rest of the group after breakfast the next day, neither Ells nor Kai could be seen in the back with Tyson, Daichi and Kenny. After taking a deep breath she stopped the pointless argument the two of them were having and drew their attention towards a new traning schedule she had put up. Even Daichi nodded his head in approval after analysing it.

"Woah, I have to say that this actually looks good."

"Yeah, it's like you know what's actually like to practice and play beyblade," Tyson agreed.

"Oh, really? Well, good," she answered, feeling a little thrilled with getting complimented by them for once. Of course, they would never learn that it was from true experience as a player that she could of think of that plan of training.

"Where's Kai and Ells?" She asked.

"Dunno, they left early today," Daichi said with a shrug.

"Together?" She asked back, raising an eyebrow.

"No, why would they be together?" He asked looking back at her the same way.

"I don't know," she answered with a shrug. "Well, I'm sure they'll come back sooner or later. So, you two should get started."

"Let me just plug in Dizzi, then," Kenny said standing up to get the cable.

"Shouldn't you be practicing too, Kenny?" Hilary asked. "You filled in a form, but all you've been doing is collecting data."

"Yeah, you did say you wanted to try and be a player for the team," Tyson remembered.

"Right…"

Nothing in his voice was particularily noting of enthusiasm.

"We won't bite. Come on!"

"Come on, Chief. I'll record everything so that you can look at it later," Dizzi said from the laptop.

Finally agreeing, he produced a green beyblade and a launcher from his toolkit and trembled towards the improvised stadium on the garden, taking Daichi's place against Tyson. Both of them launched their beys at the stadium and they dashed and clashed fiercly. Even though she knew he had a lot less experience as a player than as a technician, Hilary cheered strongly for Kenny. His situation was much like hers.

More than being nervous, Hilary had not been practicing because her main teacher had been busy with his own training. Without Kai's help, she couldn't know what to improve or even how to improve, so she had stopped practicing altogether. There was no turning back at that point, but she was starting to come back to the idea that she shouldn't have signed in for the tournament in the first place. Even if she started training with Ells, it sounded unlikely that she'd do any good.

Maybe she could talk to Kai to figure something out, maybe he and Ells could both help her become a somewhat decent player on time. Or maybe not. After their return from the BB Shop the previous day, Ells had asked if she could train with the rest of the boys for a while to get used to her new Beyblade. Although most of what she did were obstacle courses that she completed almost flawlessly, after watching her for a while Kai had just left without saying why or where he was going. Something was upsetting him, and he could easily give her the cold shoulder, but Hilary still planned to ask for his help again, or at least find out what was going on with him and try to fix it. After all, she was his friend too.

Even in the quietude of his mind, Kai couldn't stop thinking about that girl. It wasn't her fault, but she was getting on his nerves, and staying away from her seemed to help him calm down and think about the whole thing rationally. During the time when she had been away with Hilary and Kenny practice had gone just fine, but the minute she came back and started training with them he felt his control over Dranzer slip away more than once. No one else seemed to have noticed it but he did, and that was plenty to tell him something was wrong. He had to keep a better grip on himself. That girl wasn't better than him at anything and he knew it, and if she managed to get beaten without letting out so much as a grunt, he had to be able to control his impulsive feelings towards her.

Although he was holding a bag with a sandwich he had gotten for lunch, he hadn't touched it and decided it was time to return to Tyson's place and get some work done.

And then, turning a corner, he glimpsed Ellivah entering another street further ahead. To check he hadn't imagined things, he peeked through the corner and spotted her without failure, walking slowly but with purpose, drawing little to no attention towards her. Thinking it was the perfect opportunity to brush off his irritation, he followed her, taking care to ensure she wasn't aware of his presence.

Her route took them to an abandoned bulding on the outskirts of town, which had caught on fire a couple of years before and had never been rebuilt. He waited for a while before following her inside, towards a growing wild patch of grass on the back.

Hiding behind a crumbling wall, he looked in awe as she fed a couple dozens of cats. Almost exactly the same way he still did, on an empty construction lot not far from there, she had brought tuna cans and granulated food and spoke gently while they, incredibly pleased, meowed and purred and rubbed on her legs and her feet.

"You can have all of it. I'll just eat something else," she said putting a little box of meat and rice on the floor and letting them have their way with it. As soon as she had been fully ignored in favor of the food, she leaned on the other side of the wall he hid behind and sighed deeply, letting her body slide down to the ground.

It was jarring how she was so much like him in such a different way.

Suddenly Ellivah jumped from where she was sitting and turned around towards the wall.

"Who's there? Show yourself," she demanded. With a deep breath, Kai stepped from the other side of the wall, watching her face show some relief at first, but that quickly vanished under her usual neutral staring.

"How did you find this place?" She asked.

"I followed you."

"Shouldn't you be training for the eliminations?"

"Shouldn't you be training to protect your bit-beast tomorrow?" He asked back.

"I've been practicing since sunrise. I can fully control the beyblade Kenny and Mr. Tate built for me now," she answered. "I was going to go back in a while."

"Battle me," Kai said. It was the best way he could regain control of his emotions.

"Now?"

He shook his head. Butting in on her rest had been inappropriate enough, and he didn't like the idea of dragging her away from all those cats. He liked them too.

Silently, both of them acknowledged they could stay there a little while longer and sat down, leaning on the wall and watching the cats relish on the treats that had been brought for them. Every now and then one of them would come over towards them, and they pet their soft fur until the cats got bored and left to lie down or eat some more.

Their silence was broken by the grumble of an empty stomach.

"When was the last time you ate?" Kai asked Ellivah. If she had been practicing alone from dawn, and then given her lunch to the cats, it was likely she hadn't eaten anything since the previous night. She didn't respond to him, but the suble pink tone that brushed her cheeks was enough answer.

It calmed him somewhat seeing that she was capable of showing some goofiness and making decisions on par with Tyson's recklessness.

"You can have this," he said, handing her the bag with his sandwich. She glanced at it and shook her head.

"I appreciate it, but it was my choice to give my food to the cats. You don't need to give me yours."

"I'm choosing to give you mine. I'm not hungry," he answered. A bit relunctanctly, she took the bag and started to slowly nibble on the sandwich, as if savouring every last crumble.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you," he said after a while, while she was still eating. "How do you materialize Dusk?"

Their eyes met for a moment until she swallowed what she was chewing.

"You want to do the same thing with Dranzer?"

"Is it possible?"

"It's not impossible," she answered after pondering for a bit. "But for you it'll be more complicated, I'm afraid. When Dusk entered inside of you, you must have felt her mind," she waited for an answer and he nodded. "You couldn't do it with Dusk even if you wanted to, but to materialize a bit-beast you need to share your mind with it and know it well. When that bond is strong enough you should be able to give it a part of your energy so that it can manifest without any kind of support, like the bit of a beyblade or your own body. That's how it happens with us. I'm sorry I can't explain it better than this."

It could be problematic to try and share his mind to Dranzer when he wasn't born with it inside of him like her and Dusk, but in dire times he was sure he had heard his voice and talked to him to overcome those moments as one. If that was what she meant, then pursuing it was definitely possible.

"May I ask you something now?" She asked once she was done eating. "Your last name is Hiwatari, am I correct? You're Voltaire's grandson."

"Your story brought back a lot of memories," he answered nodding. "Some of which I'd rather not remember."

"I don't wish to compare myself to you, but I can imagine it must've been difficult for you and the rest of the boys in the abbey."

"It's hard to top what your mother did to you," he said with a shrug. "But hellish training for something you don't really understand surrounded by people who hate you to death is definitely up there."

"They thought you had it easy because you were related to him," she said after a quiet moment.

"They were wrong. But I grew to be the soldier everyone wanted me to be. And, after I returned to the abbey, Boris and Voltaire presented me with the perfect weapon."

"DarkDranzer? You mean they made it for you?" She asked with a bit of surprise on her voice.

"I know you don't like it, but Dark Power… It's definitely something," he waited for her to say something, and continued when she didn't. "I only used it three years ago, but I was invicible. I could do anything with that bey."

"I'm sorry," she suddenly said. When he looked at her, the hand that rested on her leg was shut tight. "It's my fault."

"For what? My own stupidity? Save it," he answered.

"I should've stopped them from using it."

"It's gone, now. I destroyed it after Tyson put some sense back in me. Tyson, of all people," he said shaking his head. Then, instinctively, his hand reached for his pocket and produced out his blue beyblade. "Him and my true bit-beast."

Although she wanted to say it was only a manner of time before they could recreate the Dark Power, Ells remained silent, musing about what she could've done to avoid that from happening like she had done so many times before. The answers she came up with were never too satisfactory.

"You said so yourself," he suddenly said, still looking at Dranzer. "You never wanted them to use Dark Power. They took it from you by force."

Unaware of their quiet conversation, birds sang cheerfully from the empty window sills and broken walls of the burnt building, silencing only when a car drove by. Some of the cats looked up, their tails lashing from side to side, thrilled by the prospect of the hunt, but most of them laid about and took their naps undisturbed.

"Thank you," Ells ended up saying.

"For what?"

"You don't judge me. None of you did. You all just listened to my story and treated me as a person instead of something unnatural. This might sound weird, but I missed that. Even you. I'm the reason you were captivated by DarkDranzer and that went badly, but you just don't care."

"You may be the reason, but it wasn't your fault," he replied with a shrug.

"Hilary couldn't help but feel sorry for me," she said, petting one of the cats that had laid down next to her. "But it was just because she's so kind," then she looked back up, as if she had just remembered something. "She said she was practicing with you for the tournament."

"I haven't been with her this last couple of weeks," he answered. "Whenever I'm not training with those two she's with you."

"I want to her help her as well, after tomorrow, if you agree to it. I believe the two of us should be able to prepare her to reach quite far into the tournament. At least enough so that Tyson won't poke fun at her."

"I'll have a word with her after I take a look at her new schedule. What about you? Are you going to train with us for the tournament?"

"I'm not sure yet," she answered after pondering for a while. Then she stood up, and the cats that had gather around both of them woke up lazily and trotted away. "But I'll at least accept your challenge, Kai Hiwatari. Let's fight in preparation for tomorrow."

Much alike her expectations, Ells was sweating. He ate like a pig, had the temper of a wild bull and he was hopelessly lazy, but Tyson was a player worthy of the title of world champion. And the fight they agreed to engage on for practice was leaving him more and more thrilled and harder to keep under control.

The day before, Ells and Kai gave their all and exhausted themselves in a match that ended in a draw. Although he had some trouble accepting the result, it eventually sank in that someone who had been raised in similar conditions as himself, at least as far as beyblading was concerned, had to have similar skills. He took a quick look at the schedule Hilary set up for him, Tyson and Daichi and, noticing the three hours long lunch break, told her on the side that he and Ells would meet with her at that time on a burnt building on the outskirts of town, starting the day after the next, if everything went well. Knowing what he meant with it and where he was telling her to go, she agreed to everything, and was cheering for Ells, feeling more confident than ever and slightly relieved that Kai had gone to her instead of having to question him.

Suddenly a black and a red beyblade invaded Tyson's beystadium and clashed with Dusk and Dragoon. The four blades danced as the metal sparked wildly, and in a single motion and a final clash the four of them jumped from the beystadium and landed on their respective owners' hands.

Standing on top of Tyson's home's wall were Ozuma, Dunga, Joseph and Mariam, clad on their hoods and with a posture they hadn't seen since they had chased after their bit-beasts.

"We don't want to destroy this place," Dunga said, putting his Vortex Ape away.

"Come with us," Ozuma finished, and the four of them jumped for the street. Trading glances with Ells, the entire group nodded and followed them outside.

When they finally slowed down, a deserted theme park stretched out in front of their eyes, still with its broken rollercoaster, frozen carroussels and the half-destroyed castle. Everyone who had already been in contact with the Saint Shields were familiar with that place, but that time there was no rock with Driger sealed inside tied to the Ferris wheel, and the threat was meant for someone else.

Just like the previous time there was no beystadium. The park was theirs to use as they saw fit.

When they thought the distance was sufficient, the four Saint Sheilds held their lauchers and the group stopped.

"Draw out you launcher!" Ozuma demanded Ellivah. There were no pleasantries to be held. They had a mission, and they were there to fulfill it.

"Hey, four on one? That's not fair!" Tyson shouted when he saw all of them prepared their beyblades.

"Oh, but it is. You just don't know it yet," Joseph answered.

"It's fine. I understand and accept their terms," Ellivah said, getting into position to throw Dusk.

"Good luck, Ells," Hilary said. "You can do it."

Although she was concentranting and didn't answer, she had to admit that being cheered on after so long felt kind of nice.

"3, 2, 1, Let it rip!"

As soon as Dusk touched the ground, it dashed away from the opposing four beyblades, which quickly chased her, followed by the five players racing on foot. It wasn't the strategy of a coward, and they all knew it. It was how Ells had to play with a bit-beast such as the Equilibrium of Dark.

Sharkrash and Vanishing Moot sped up and used the boards of a broken stand to leap far enough to block the path Dusk was taking, closing a circle around it that Tyson quickly recognized as the same attack they had used against Max and Ray on one of their fights.

"How's that?" Joseph shouted.

"This will be over quick," Mariam said as they caught up to the beyblades. Ells, however, remained focused, looking closely as the circle as it crept closer towards Dusk, waiting for her chance.

"Now!"

At her command, Dusk dashed out of the location where she had been spinning, revealing a small hole that she used as a ramp to jump above the siblings and continue forward towards the rollercoaster.

The red beyblade crossed her path and drew a line straight towards her.

"Oh, no you don't!" Dunga said from above a nearby caroussel. "Go, Vortex Ape!"

Answering to his summons, the bit of top of the blade glowed and a great gorilla like beast it rose from it, banging his chest, and it roared at Ellivah. Not intimidated by him, she took a deep breath and focused her mind. It was no surprise Dunga was one to call his bit-beast first. She had to answer the same way.

"Dusk!"

Likewise, the bit of her beyblade shone, but in a dark light, and the demon winged hound rose from it, as large as Vortex Ape. She snarled at him and then started to run, catching the same pace as the beyblade that supported her.

"Don't let her do it, Dunga!" Yelled Ozuma as he ran alongside his Flash Leopard, catching up to Ellivah.

Just before the beyblades clashed Dusk swerved around Vortex Ape, at the same time as the hound stopped and took a sharp turn around the gorilla.

"Don't let her get away!"

Prepared for that sort of move, Vortex Ape followed Dusk's movement and reached with his hand towards her. On the ground the beyblades clashed, but the black blade used the momentum of the blow to create distance and attack from an unexpected angle. Dusk crouched below the massive arm, then leapt towards the neck. She managed to only get the other arm on her jaws, but it was more than enough.

With a single, decisive blow, Dunga's beyblade was flung up into the air, only to fall below the stand where he chosen to stay. Dark smoke overflowed from Dusk's jaw and Vortex Ape arm, and with a painful roar he vanished to return to the blade.

A one hit kill was the thing that Dusk and Ellivah excelled at. However, the most correct way to define them would be as a glass cannon, and the three remaining players were all aware of that. As powerful as it was, it was still easy to break.

While Dunga clenched his fist, filled with frustration, and shouted his teammates good luck, the four of them approached the rollercoaster. With a silent nod of approval, Mariam and Joseph called upon their bit-beasts as well and dashed ahead with Ozuma. The beam that Ellivah had meant to make Dusk climb was suddenly taken down by Vanishing Moot, and she had to take a sudden turn straight towards Sharkrash and a freshly summoned Flash Leopard.

"You're not getting away!" Mariam shouted as Ellivah glanced back just to see Vanishing Moot just behind them. Dusk growled deeply and turned around in an instant, hoping to get Joseph by surprise. As big as he was, Vanishing Moot was fast and the green beyblade turned out of the way just in time to let her pass, while the mammoth swung his trunk towards another beam, making another portion of the rollercoaster fall straight towards Dusk.

"Good job, little brother," Mariam said while Ellivah brain raced to understand the way the beams were falling.

"Surround her to make sure she can't get away," Ozuma ordered, and before he was done talking the three beyblades were already in formation, its bit-beasts snarling at Dusk. Deep in concentration, Ellivah had Dusk use another beam as a ramp to jump up, landing on one of the falling beams. Without stopping, she leaped from beam to beam, quickly gaining altitude. When the beams ended, Dusk closed her wings and dove straight for the three of them.

"I got this!"

"No, Joseph, get out of the way!"

However, with his tusks ready to pierce her, Vanishing Moot was ready to end that fight. The beyblades clashed violently as the hound's claws dug deep into mammoth's back, managing to maintain her footing to bite it.

"You're mine!"

Before Joseph beyblade stopped spinning, half-buried in the dirt, Mariam's blue beyblade met with Ellivah's dark one and drove it into a corner. Sharkrash had jumped above Vanishing Moot's back, crashing straight into the hound who released a whine of pain.

"Dusk!"

The dark beyblade pushed Mariam's away and used the chance to escape, as Dusk rolled up and sneered at the shark in front of it. One of her wings had been injured on the fall and the beyblade wobbled dangerously.

"Great hit, Mariam!" Ozuma said. When Ellivah looked for Flash Leopard, she saw it already gaining altitude on the rollercoaster. That was her greastest advantage, just taken from her.

"Allow me to seal the deal," she said as Sharkrash bared her teeth at Dusk and swam forward. Like a shark, her pattern of movement was unpredictable, but there was always another way she could escape. At the last moment, Dusk used the fallen beams behind her to jump above, letting the shark crash into the same beams and the beyblade lose itself under the rubble.

"Sharkrash!" Mariam shout out when it didn't resurface.

"It's over!"

The leopard's cry made Ellivah look straight up. It was climbing down the beams of the rollercoaster too fast for her to escape its claws.

"No."

That wasn't the cry of someone recognizing defeat. It was from someone who refused to accept it. A powerful aura surrounded the park as Ellivah's hair flew behind her back and a dark mist surrounded Dusk, who answered with a fearsome growl and Flash Leopard's attack.

"Come, Guardian of the Lore!"

"With pleasure!"

Flash Leopard landed violently on top of Dusk and both locked jaws with each other while sparks flew like mad from the beyblades from the strength of the impact. Light poured out of the beasts and the impact from both them and the beys resulted in a blast of energy that almost threw both players off their balance.

When the dust settled, both beyblades were already immobile on the ground.

Her fatigue caught up to her and Ells fell to her knees, panting. When she looked up Ozuma was sitting down, panting in similar fashion, while Mariam and her brother joined him, their beys already on their hands. Several steps echoed behind her as the others joined them.

"Are you alright?" Hilary asked. "What happened?"

"It's her victory," Ozuma announced with a sigh, standing up, and Ellivah did just the same. "You're in perfect sync with Dusk. And you can even use Dark Power."

"I don't like it," she answered. "But you didn't give me a choice."

"Good. I wanted to see if you'd risk it in a crisis."

"You did it, Ells! That's great!" Hilary said enthusiastically. She turned back to her and nodded with the shadow of a smile.

"We'll recognize that you're good enough to protect Dusk youself, Ells. But we'll be keeping an eye on you lot," Mariam said.

"What do you mean?" Tyson asked. "Aren't you going back home?"

"Your dad was kind enough to give us his results, Tyson," Joseph said with his arms casually behind his head. "He said the location of both of the Equilibrium bit-beasts were hinted at in our texts, and the Equilibrium of Light is somewhere in this city."

"Really?"

"We'll be looking for it, so we'll stick around for a little while longer," Ozuma said.

"We won't be participating on the tournament, so the seats for the Japanese team are all yours to take," Dunga said.

"No way, I wanted to fight you guys!" Daichi said, feeling extremely pumped up after that performance.

"I wanted to see just how weak that Strata Dragoon is," Dunga said with a smirk.

"Weak?! You wanna fight now?"

"Dunga, we need to go," Ozuma warned.

"Some other time, kid. We'll be around."

"Hey, who are you calling a kid?"

But that and the other insults that he had lined up fell on deaf ears as the Shields had already leapt into the darkness, maybe to begin their search for the Light Equilibrium. However, if they were as efficient on their duty as Ellivah believed them to be, they should already know exactly on whose neck it was hanging.

_Panting heavily, she ran across a thick wood as if her life depended on it, and it did. There were slave merchants chasing her. Men were demanded for their strength to do hard labor, but young girls such as herself were usually treated as the lords' personal toys, and knowing that was enough to find more energy to keep running when she thought she had none left._

_She had wandered too far from the village, and she knew she shouldn't have gone there without Tai, but she was hoping to find him, wherever he had disappeared to, instead of those slavers. Part of her still hoped he'd drop down from the treetops and rescue her from them._

_As she looked back to see if she had finally lost them she bumped into someone. Another man raised a rope against her. She was trapped, but there was no way she'd let it end that way. They'd have to fight for her. Even though she wasn't exactly sure what, she'd do something, and then she'd drag Tai's ass back home._

"I'll help you."

_A white light surged from her chest, blinding her, and she felt herself being lifted by a powerful force. When she opened her eyes again, she realized she was flying in the claws of a great white dragon, with soft plummed wings and a silver mane. It was beautifully terrifying, but between being food or a slave, at least the former meant her death would be swift._

_However, the beast gently put her down on the top of a hill, and then landed next to her, crouching to look at her closely with one of its emerald green eyes, as if curious about her. Legends claimed that not all dragons were evil, and there was only one way to find out if that one wasn't going to munch her as a snack._

"_Thank you for saving me. What do you want from me?" she asked._

"What a silly question_," a voice said, spreading on her mind and her body, cheerful and just deeper than hers, like an older sister's. "_I'm your spirit. You summoned me, didn't you?_"_

"_My spirit? Like the ones that the nobles use for their battles?"_

"Yes_."_

"_But I'm from the people, we can't have spirits. I don't have noble blood."_

"Where did you hear that nonsense? Anyone can have a spirit. We don't care how high a person is compared to the others, or how is seen by the others_."_

"_But I'm a woman. I thought only men can have spirits."_

"I'm a girl, too. Why should we only choose men? I personally think they're pretty boring_."_

"_But why me? I'm a nobody."_

"I could ask you the same question, couldn't I? Why am I your spirit? A white dragon instead of a fox or a bird? It's just who I am, and it's just who you are_." The dragon's voice had become more and more rough with all her questioning, as if getting tired and a little bit angry with her denial of the entire situation. "_Of course, if you don't like me I can just return inside of you and never bother you again_."_

"_No, no, I'm really grateful for what you did for me, and I think you're really pretty," she quickly answered, letting a smile draw on her face as the facts slowly sank in her mind. "I love the colours on your wings."_

"Oh, you do? Thank you very much. I think you're a cute little human girl too," _the dragon said with the same cheerful voice as when it first spoke._

"_Ow, let me go, I don't want to!"_

_Both of them turned their heads to the direction of the sound. It sounded like a young man, like her, in some sort of trouble, but if the slavers were after her, then who was after him?_

"Why don't we go check it out?_" the dragon said. "_I'll be with you if you need my help._"_

"_What should I call you?"_

"I'm Dawn. And I already know your name, Hina_."_

_Saying that, she turned into light and entered her chest, where she felt like an image of a second mind mingled with her own. Encouraged by Dawn, she slowly climbed down the hill to see what was happening below._

_Peeking through a bush, she could see Kenny, but without his glasses, bring chased down by a large group of bulky men. His clothes were torn and dirty, as if he had been running for days, but it seemed they had been rich and colourful once, like the ones bore by a minor nobleman. Unable to trust someone with a hint of noble heritage, she was stuck between doing something to help him get away from the armed men chasing him, and not doing anything at all._

_Suddenly a light emerged from him and formed into a gigantic cream frog with a silver underbelly and green, poisonus mane, who jumped on the people attacking the boy. He kept running, but was seized by another man that jumped from the frog's blind angle, and started screaming and struggling with all his might against his grip._

"Is it really ok to leave them like this? What if he's not a nobleman?_"_

"You're right. We're helping them_."_

_With a bit of focus, remembering her panic as she was chased before, she summoned Dawn from the image on her chest. With a bob of her paw the dragon separated the boy from the man holding him and, holding him on her other paw, pranced up and placed him on the back of the cream frog, who instantly leapt above the treetops, vanishing from sight._

"Can we follow them?_"_

"Of course_."_

_Grabbing her the same way as before, Dawn beat her wings and lifted into the sky, finding the frog further ahead, and flew after it, keeping just above the foliage. They both landed in front of a cave, on the foot of a lonely mountain, and the she and the boy dismounted their spirits._

"_Thank you very much for helping me back there," he said, bowing at Dawn._

"You have to thank my Hina, not me_."_

_He seemed to have heard her voice, but didn't understand what she had said, and turned for his frog spirit as if it could translate it for him. Feeling that they were talking to each other, she also couldn't quite grap what they were saying._

"_You're the dragon's wielder?" he asked, turning at her in awe._

"_I know, I'm a plebeian girl, and I didn't believe it at first either, but Dawn says I'm hers and she's mine, and I'm very happy that she showed up when she did."_

"I'm glad you are happy._"_

"_Yes, I've never heard of a girl with a spirit before," he said, examining her from top to bottom, looking for something different in her from all other girls that justified the fact._

"_And I'm sure you've never heard of plebians with a spirit."_

"_Oh, no, no, most people with spirits are from towns, like me."_

"_You don't look like you are," she said, raising an eyebrow at his worn, but delicate clothes._

"_It's true, I was just the son of a scrivener from a village not far from here until Dizzira showed up to protect me from some older guys who picked on me all the time. A couple of days later the local lord's men showed up to take me to his mansion, by force."_

"_But why?"_

_As they kept talking, she found that Kenichi and many other young people were kept in the manion under close watch, forbidden from revealing that they held spirits under death treaths, so that the general populace believed only nobles were worthy of them. They also threatened to go after their loved ones and torture or kill them if they ever disobeyed their command. In order for the facade to work, all of the spirits wielders were made to wear clothes the same fabric as the noble ones._

"_Dizzira and I were sick of it and we managed to get away, but they were about to get us again if it weren't for you guys."_

"_But what about your father?"_

"_He's already gone," Kenichi said, looking down and shaking his head. "He tried to stop them from taking me to the mansion."_

"_I'm so sorry…"_

_In the silence that followed, she thought about Tai and how his strange behaviour had been just after he found his dragon spirit, as if he wanted to tell her something but was too scared to do it. What if the men's lords had come to him, too, with threats against someone he held dear?_

"_Listen, Kenichi," she said, looking back up from her thoughts. "I have a friend who vanished a couple of days ago from our village, I was looking for him when I was attacked by slavers. He found a spirit just before he disappeared. It might be the same thing, right?"_

"_Yes, it sounds exactly like it. If he has a spirit then the lords probably got to him."_

"_He's an orphan, so I don't know who they're using to keep him under control, but I want to help him. Can you take me to the lord's mansion?"_

"_I'll do better than that. Dizzira and I will help you save him," he said after pondering for a moment with his spirit._

As if he had been hit with nothing but the breeze, Dranzer cast aside Hilary's white beyblade and it landed immobile by her feet.

"For someone who only started practicing six months ago you're doing pretty good, but you can do better," Kai said with his arms crossed, standing on the other side of the beystadium. "We're trying again."

During that morning they had all worked hard, even Ellivah, ready to start practicing for the tournament as well, but after lunch Kai had quietly left the place, claiming he had some stuff to do. No one really questioned him or Ells when she said she wanted to take a break and left as well.

Besides, Tyson and Daichi were still feasting after Hilary was done with her dishes.

"Alright, you two, I need to go and do some errands for my mom," she said. "I'll be back in time for us to keep practicing, so behave and don't waste your energy."

After making sure that neither Tyson or Daichi were following her, Hilary headed for the burnt building where Kai had told her to go, finding him on the other side of a small opening where weeds were growing, waiting for her by an old beystadium. When she looked to the side, drawn by another voice, she saw Ells sitting on an empty window frame, behind her side of the beystadium. While she did as instructed by the two of them, performing all sorts of manouvers to try and at least put a dent on Dranzer, she swore she could hear the meow of a cat every now and again.

Hilary picked up her beyblade from the ground and put it back on her launcher. As she readied herself to cast it, two other beyblades landed on the stadium and smashed into Dranzer. It held its ground, but Kai and Ells looked around, looking for their owners.

"Interesting. The great Kai Hiwatari has a disciple?" Wondered a voice none of them recognized.

"I think the fact that they stole our spot's more incovenient," said a second voice.

No, Kai knew those voices. He had talked to them not even two days before. He looked up and spotted them, sitting on a hole on the ceiling and swinging their carefree legs. A somewhat chubby boy with small eyes and a devious smile, reminding of Goki, and another one who looked incredibly like Wyatt, save for the apple green eyes and shorter height. They had approached him the day Ellivah started training with them and he left the house, asking for a game against him. However, looking at their faces made him relive everything that had happened with Wyatt and Cyber Dranzer, including the way it had all ended, so his mood worsened and he told them both to take a hike.

Had they really been so unlucky to occupy their spot to play? Or had they been followed there?

"What do you two want?" He asked, keeping his beyblade spinning against theirs.

"You forgot our names? That's pretty rude," the Wyatt look-alike said.

"I'm Mitch, and this is Rigel."

"Hello, girls," he said, waving at them.

"I asked you a question," Kai insisted, speaking with a tone of authority.

"Same as the other day," Mitch answered with a shrug. "We just want a match. Hey, make it two on two. You need to practice with your disciple, right? It's perfect."

Listening to that exchange, Hilary couldn't tell what was more unsettling, the fact that they were calling her a disciple, or the fact that Kai wasn't actually denying it.

"If you want your spot back it's fine, we can just find someplace else," she managed to say.

"Oh, no worries, you can use it. But you'll have to fight us for it," Rigel said.

"And what if we lose?" She asked.

"I dunno, we get bragging rights, I guess," Mitch said with a shrug, and the both of them started laughing.

"I don't like this," Ells muttered under her breath. Both Hilary and Kai felt the same way, but they could also tell that trying to leave that place was probably not an option anymore.

"Beating one the members of the team that won worlds last year means that only Daichi Sumeragi and Tyson Granger would be left. Then we'd be world champions," Rigel said. "That'd be awesome, right?"

"I'll fight with you, Kai," Hilary said. Somehow, the thought of those two going after Tyson scared her to the point of wanting to stop them from reaching him.

"Are you sure?" He asked, and she nodded to him. Then, he kept Dranzer spinning away from them as he joined Hilary. "Alright, we'll have a match with you."

Immediately as he uttered those words the two boys jumped from the hole on the ceiling and stepped forward to the stadium.

"Thank you very much for this chance, master Hiwatari," Rigel said with a bow.

"Whenever you're ready, sister," Mitch said, winking at Hilary. Blood rose up to her head as she pulled her cord and her beyblade flew towards the stadium.

Their beys easily dashed out of the way and started circling the stadium. Taking Kai's advice, Hilary had her blade circle around the stadium with them not to get caught in the middle. Eventually Mitch's black beyblade clashed into Hilary's and Rigel's red beyblade clashed with Dranzer.

"Haha, this is pretty fun, right?" Mitch asked.

"It's always great fighting one of the best," Rigel answered.

"Then why don't you use it to see what I meant back then? Here, I'll show you."

From the black beyblade emerged an orangotangus, surrounded by a dark aura much like they had felt in the airport, in the freezer and on the abandoned theme park when Ells had been forced to use Dark Power, and their instinct screamed at them to run from there.

"Impossible…" She said horrified, looking at the bit-beast. "To be able to replicate it so faithfully so fast…"

With a brush of his hand the huge ape sent Hilary's beyblade flying across the room until it landed by the window where Ells was sitting in shock.

"See? Use yours, too," Mitch said to his teammate.

"What do you two really want?" Kai shouted, his beyblade still locked against Rigel's.

"Your Dranzer, what else?" Mitch answered with a mad tone on his voice, making Hilary instantly think of the boy who had abducted her and taken her to the freezer. "It'll be much better with a coat of black, in the hands of someone more competent than you."

"Thanks, but I didn't like it the first time I tried," Kai said as his beyblade dashed away from the red one to avoid a pincer attack from Mitch.

"What are you doing? Use your Dark Beast!" Mitch demanded.

"I-I don't need it. I can fight him like this," the boy answered with a trembling voice.

"Use that bit-beast now, you damn coward!"

Unable to fight the pressure the boy turned towards his beyblade and summoned an imposing lion bit-beast, with the same dark aura surrounding it.

Ells jumped from the window frame and approached the stadium, taking her beyblade from her back pocket.

"Stay out of this!" Kai said once he realized what she was doing.

"With all due respect, you'll need help to fight them both," she said with a chilling tone.

"It's cheating to enter a fight after it started, right, Rigel?" Mitch said turning back towards him. However, all of his previous energy had vanished as he stared into his beyblade, lost in the middle of some sort of trance, which made his friend laugh. "See? How great does it feel?"

"Out of my way!"

In a flash, Dranzer had emerged from Kai's beyblade and, catching Mitch and his orangotango off guard, threw its bey of out the stadium with a force Hilary rarely felt from him, just like that voice, scary enough to make her shiver. He was livid, with a drop of sweat slipping across his face and a spark of anger on his eyes that she had never seen before. Then, she remembered.

"It's just like…," she turned back at Rigel and her mouth opened in shock. "How did they find out about that?"

As much as she'd like to know what was happening with Kai, Ellivah had a much more important concern she needed to address. Instead of vanishing when the beyblade stopped spinning, the orangotango roared, as if in pain, and the aura around it grew so large and thick it became impossible to see the bit-beast inside of it. The aura twisted into something like a spear and aimed at Mitch, who screamed in terror. However, with her arms stretched to the side, Ellivah blocked the trajectory of the spear and absorbed it. No sound came from her lips, but they twisted with the hatred in that strike. When the spear vanished, she quickly grabbed the beyblade on the floor and released all the energy into the bit, returning the Dark Beast to the place where it had come from. There was no time to rest, however, because the boy was about to leave that place from fear.

"Just where do you think you're going?" She said grabbing him by the collar of his shirt as he tried to make a run for it. He turned around and screamed again when he locked eyes with her, whose expression reminded of a revenant soul facing the one responsible for its demise. "You're staying here until this is over."

A shout forced her to turn around. Rigel was holding onto his head as Dranzer and the lion bit-beast clashed fiercely, and Hilary told Kai that he had succeded before, while he stared at Rigel as if he was a living nightmare.

"Kai!" she called, drawing the attention of the both of them. "The faster you finish it the easier it'll be for me to help him. So, please, end it quickly or I will."

"He'll be okay, Kai, think about Kane and the rest of the Psykicks, you guys saved them all!" Hilary insisted. Something about him seemed to improve, and with renewed energy Dranzer enveloped itself in fire and glided towards the lion. Rigel screamed in pain as the aura around his lion grew stronger and it roared at the phoenix.

"Don't let it get to you, Kai!" Hilary shouted. "Hurry!"

Hurry. Yes. They had to hurry. Otherwise he would have the same fate as Wyatt. That couldn't happen. He couldn't let that happen.

Although the fire around Dranzer seemed to waver for a second its strength returned in time for the clash, and the red beyblade was catapulted upwards while Rigel fell to his knees, his voice giving away. Struck by the phoenix, the lion's aura grew just like it had happened to the orangotango and headed straight for Rigel. However, still holding on to Mitch, Ells intercepted it the same way, and the boy fell to the ground as the last of the aura disappeared inside of her.

Panting, Kai let Dranzer return to his bit while the beyblade kept spinning in the center of the standium, wobbling dangerously next to the immobile red one. Meanwhile, Mitch had been released from Ells's grasp and was kneeling on the floor next to his friend, trying to shake him awake.

"Rigel! Wake up, Rigel!"

"Kai, toss that beyblade over here," Ells asked with urgency on her voice. She wasn't used to hold that much energy inside of her and Dusk was restless with worry. He looked back at the stadium and Dranzer clashed one last time against the red beyblade, tossing it towards Ellivah and coming back to Kai's hand afterwards.

"Are you alright?" Hilary asked.

"I'm fine," he said, brushing her hand from his shoulder and steadying his breath. Ells had just transferred the lion into its beyblade and sighed with relief.

"That was close."

All of them gathered around Rigel and Ellivah kneeled next to him, putting two fingers over his neck to check for a pulse. Something red and sticky was crawling from underneath his closed eyes and stained his face, and Hilary couldn't help let out a scream, muffled by her quick hands, when she figured out it was blood.

Just before Kai could actually feel guilty about anything that had happened, Ellivah bent over him and softly kissed his forehead. Dark smoke poured from underneath his eyelids and quietly melted with the air around them. When the smoke ran out something about Rigel's face changed, as if he had been sleeping that entire time.

When Ells turned around and asked for a tissue, Hilary quickly gave her one, making a note to ask her what had just happened when the time was more appropriate. As she tried to clean the blood below his eyes, they opened by themselves.

"O-Olyx?" He asked weakly.

"He's going to be fine," Ellivah replied before he passed out again.

"Rigel!"

His friend was suddenly silenced by Ells pulling him too close to her furious face for his liking.

"Listen to me, you little shit. If you care about your friend at all you're going to take him to the hospital, you're going to let me keep these two beyblades of yours, and you'll never mention a thing of what happened here to anyone. If someone asks you lost control over your beyblades and they fell into the river. Am I clear?"

"C-Crystal clear, ma'am," he answered, trembling more than twigs on the wind. Pleased with the response, Ellivah released him and, saying that she would join them later, watched as Hilary and Kai raced with Mitch to take Rigel to the hospital, channeling all that rage towards herself for failing to keep the Dark Power out of their hands.

Chapter 5 – _"The Tournament"_

On that day Hilary's schedule was far from being obeyed to. When they returned, hours after the designated time for practice, Ellivah first and Kai and Hilary after, they told Tyson, Kenny and Daichi they had been attacked and the organization had vastly improved the manipulation of Dark Power. Even though both Dark Beasts were in safe hands for the moment, Ellivah claimed trying to fix them was too big of a risk, and the beyblades remained unused, keeping her own company on her overalls.

"Hey, Ells," Hilary asked one morning during training, while Tyson and Kai fought and Daichi shouted at them from the top of his lungs. "How did you do that on the other day? How did you heal Rigel with your kiss?"

"I'm not really sure," she answered, continuing before Hilary could reply. "If you notice, everyone has inherent skills. For example, Tyson never gives up, Daichi's energy is limitless, and Kai is always focused, no matter what the situation he's in. The most amazing I've seen was Tyson's opponent during the finals last year, Brooklyn. He had incredible natural talent, and he opened a black hole on the sky during his match. Next to that, the power of healing doesn't seem like much, at least not to me."

"I don't think so," she answered. "You saved someone's life. That's incredible, too."

"That might be true," Ellivah said, after pondering for a moment, looking back to the sky as if answering to it instead.

As for Hilary's own training, it was finally going smoothly. Sometimes both Ellivah and Kai would be there, others only her. When training with the boys took too much of their time and Tyson and Daichi wanted to go right back at it after eating, Kai had to stay with them, but Ellivah could always leave without raising any problems, for the most part at least, as Daichi still glanced at her in suspicion every now and again, wondering where she was going all the time.

Sometimes she used the excuse of family errands to leave for her practice, but for the most part Hilary kept things suble enough that the boyfriend card just came out on its own. At first no one followed her, but Tyson eventually made a point to find out where she was going. She was quick to notice that, and evaded him beautifully with speed and knowledge of good hiding places, with plenty of time left to meet up with her tutors.

Both she and Kenny had started to stay in Tyson's place as well, she in his room with Ells, and Kenny in the dojo with the rest of the boys. There had been a time when Hilary's mother would've never permitted such a thing, especially when her home was so close to his, but with another girl staying there everything changed. At first she didn't like the idea of her daughter leaving to rescue someone she barely even knew, and she liked it even less when she discovered that Hilary had spent money on clothes for her. But, a couple of days after she got up from up from bed, Ellivah insisted on escorting Hilary back to her place to thank her and her mother for everything they had done for her. Even if her constant neutral expression put Hilary's mother off at first, the girl offered to help her in the kitchen just for preparing a cup of tea, almost as if she felt upset to be the cause of such trouble.

After a couple more visits, Hilary's mother ended up accepting her new friend, and allowed them to sleep together in Tyson's place, which was perfect for them to practice every other night, while he and Daichi snored away in the dojo. Most of the time Ells wouldn't go to bed after their training, choosing to sit on top of the gate to the garden to look for anyone canvasing the place. Boris's men hadn't attacked them again and, as time went by, Ellivah became more and more convinced they were preparing somehing big and impossible to predict. So, all they could do was keep watch and be prepared.

Sometimes, when Kai woke up with the sound of their beys clashing and sat on the porch to watch them, he would join Ells up on the gate after Hilary bit goodnight, but she had no idea if they even talked to each other at all. When he found them together in the morning Tyson couldn't help but make fun of them and call them a cute little couple to match Hilary and whatshisname, but they quickly replied that his jealously for Hilary's boyfriend was showing, and he soon stopped pestering them.

On the other hand, his attempts at following Hilary proved worthless, as she always noticed he was behind her and always managed to slip away, only to reappear a while after lunch, after Kai and Ells were already back from whatever hole they had crawled into, hiding her lack of breath between shouts and nervous laughs.

He didn't need to know much about that guy for Tyson to know he would hate him on sight. Hilary's energy was gradually fading away from their practice, so he had to be making her lose interest on the sport. It was impossible for her to actually be tired, the only thing she did, other than disappearing to meet with him, was shout at them or surrender to her cooking devices. She was losing her enthusiasm and commitment towards the team, she could stop seeing them at any point to be with him full time, and that was something Tyson had to prevent, no matter the cost. Hilary was their manager, and no one, no matter how pretty or smart or foreign, would change that.

It was the morning before the start of the tournament, and someone rang the doorbell. Back in the yard, while the guys and Ellivah stretched to begin their last day of practice, no one noticed anything until grampa Granger showed up on the porch with a guest.

"There's someone here to see you, boys," he said, drawing their attention towards them. A bit crestfallen, as if he had quickly regreted coming there, stood Rigel, fully back to normal. Kai, Hilary and Ellivah had checked up on him a couple of days after the incident, still in the hospital, and the nurse told them he would be released the following day. However, that was the first time they saw him in almost fifteen days.

There was a bit of silence while grampa Granger left, and Tyson realised that was the kid who looked like Wyatt and had attacked Kai, but he ended up looking up to them and claimed:

"I want Olyx back. I'll do anything you ask, but I want it back."

"Olyx? Why should we give it back to you?" Tyson replied, crossing his arms.

"You attacked Kai and he won, fair and square," Daichi continued.

"That's why I said I'd do anything…" he muttered, looking back down.

"I'd like to know how you got this bit-beast," Ellivah asked, holding his beyblade and the bit with the black lion in front of her.

"It's was from my dad, but he wasn't like that. He was golden and he was really cool, but then…"

"Don't stop there! What happened?" Tyson demanded when he silenced, lost in some memory of regret.

"This guy watched me play against Mitch, and he said he would give our bit-beasts an amazing boost of power if we joined his company," he explained. "I didn't really want to, but Mitch was all over it and he convinced me to give it a try. They made a demonstration for us after they were finished and he loved it, but I didn't, and I asked them to change Olyx back. They said they would after we did something for them, and they told us to attack Hiwatari."

Asking them to go after Kai in particular had to mean they had somehow discovered how big of a scar Cyber Dranzer and its wielders had left in him, which meant they were even more dangerous than they had originally thought to be.

"Don't people who get more power usually want to keep it?" Daichi asked.

"No, Olyx was different after they gave him that boost. His was stronger for sure, but he was in pain, and I couldn't do anything to help him. Besides, it… Hurt. I can't really explain it, but it hurt my head and my chest everytime I used him."

He silenced when Ellivah put a hand on his shoulder.

"Dark Power does different things to different people. Your friend was rude and pushy, and you felt the pain of your bit-beast," she said. Then she took her hand back and sighed. "You just want to ease it, am I right?"

"Yeah," he answered with a glint of hope on his eye.

"And Mitch?"

"He's so sorry that he made me go through that entire thing that he didn't even want to face me for a while. We've already made up, but when I told him I was coming here, he said he couldn't face you again, so he didn't come," he answered.

He understood why he was so scared of that girl when she stared right into his eyes, making him feel very unconfortable, but he didn't look away until she suddenly turned back and analysed the team behind her, stopping when she crossed eyes with Kai.

"No one here has used a Dark Beast before except for you, right?"

"Wait, what are you going to do?" Hilary asked while he nodded.

"I'm going to give him his bit-beast back. Or, at the very least, try," she answered, giving both beyblades to Kai. "I'm not going to risk him losing his mind again, so you're going to have to do it. Call them when I tell you to, please."

"Hey, but you said it'd be too hard and you could't do it," Daichi reminded.

"It will be hard, but I've been thinking about it. They can't stay with me forever, I'm afraid."

Preparing himself for what was about to happen, Kai put the red beyblade on his launcher while Ellivah took a couple of steps forward. Surrounding herself in black light, she materialized Dusk in her full size on the edge of the yard.

"Stand back under the porch, please, I don't you to get caught up in the dark aura."

After they were all set, she nodded at Kai, and he launched Olyx and summoned it. Without any other command the lion remained immobile on the spot, just across Ellivah and Dusk, but a much too familiar shiver of raw power crawled over his spine. Maintaing control, Kai didn't do anything other than watch with the rest of the team, as Ells raised a hand towards Olyx and then closed in it the brink of an eye, as if she had reached for something and crushed it on her palm. At the same moment, the connection Kai had with the bit-beast vanished, the beyblade started to wobble, and Olyx growled and tried to jump towards Ells. He was stopped just as fast by Dusk, who leapt and landed on top of it, immobilizing it with her body and putting a paw over its neck. Rigel trembled at the sight of his bit-beast trying to break free from the hound's grip, but Ells approached it uncerimoniously and, stretching out her arms, hugged its neck, losing herself on the tangled, long mane. As if the gesture flipped a switch, the dark aura around the lion broke from its body and surrounded both bit-beasts and the girl in a swirl of energy that threw back the group's hair and clothes and forced them to protect their faces with their arms.

Some of the energy escaped into the sky and mingled with the air, but most of it gathered and converged into a single place, being soaked up by Ellivah's skin. It tainted it in a grey tone, almost like as if she was being covered in ash, and as the smoke vanished Olyx, staying completely still below Dusk, had become pure white, apart from numerous dark purple scars spread over its entire body.

When the last of the energy entered inside of her, Ellivah pushed herself away from the mane and Dusk stood up, letting go of Olyx, who remainded immobile.

"Launch the other one," she ordered, strugging to keep her voice as steady as her posture. Kai did as told and, just like with the previous one, she severed the link between the bit-beast and its beyblade, letting it run rampart if not for Dusk's quick intervention, forcing the orangotango down on its stomach and powerless to stop Ellivah from holding on to its arm. Just like with Olyx, he was robbed from his energy as the aura spiralled around them and converged into the girl, leaving him white and covered in scars and her almost as grey as a storm cloud.

When they were done Dusk let go of the monkey and put her snout next to Ellivah, who leaned on it while caressing it, poorly hiding the fact that she could barely still stand.

Meanwhile, Rigel raced towards Olyx, who managed to lift his head and turn towards him, but he didn't try to touch him, looking concerned at the scars on his body. However, he noticed from the spark in his eyes that he was no longer in pain.

"Why is he like this? Why isn't he golden again?" He asked turning towards the girl with the hound.

"This isn't the Dark Power Dusk has. It's different. I can't put him back the way he was before," she said between between breaths. "I don't know if his wounds will heal, but his mind should be alright. You shouldn't feel pain anymore when you summon him."

Rigel turned back towards his bit-beast and gazed again at his scarred body and tired eyes, while the orangotango got up and slowly approached them, recognizing them as former friends. Both beasts felt as if they were made of china, so fragile that anything could break them, so much different than how he remembered them being, fighting with vigor during his feuds with Mitch.

"I'm not sure I want to…" He thought aloud.

"It's unforgivable," Hilary suddenly said, loud enough that every one there could hear it. "We have to do something, or these two will never be healed because of some damn lunatics' quest for power. What do they want with all this? Bring misery to everyone out there?"

"You're right, Hilary, but…" Tyson said, feeling her rage, but unable to come up with a better answer.

"What can we do?" Daichi asked, glancing towards the sick looking Ellivah. She was done. And if she couldn't do anything else, who could?

Understanding that, yet still uncapable of leaving things as they were, Hilary approached Rigel and the two bit-beasts as if she was being attracted to a magnet. Curious, they turned towards her and Olyx lowered his nose while the orangotango gave her one of his hands, and she stroked them both at the same time.

An intense white glow enveloped all of them, blinding everyone before disappearing in exactly the same abrupt way. Olyx's fur was back to its golden colour and his mane gained an orange tone, shining and soft as if it had just been combed, and the orangotango became dark blue with purple, thick skin. Even Ellivah's skin seemed to have returned to normal, only slightly more pale than usual.

While both bit-beasts got up and roared with energy, everyone's jaws dropped to the floor, except Ells, who gazed at the scene, still leaning on Dusk's snout, as if she had been expecting that exact outcome. The beasts returned to their beys and they stopped spinning, but no one bothered to pick them up, or even move for a moment.

"Thank you, Hilary," Ellivah said, leaning away from Dusk, but keeping a hand on one of her paws. "That was perfect."

"W-w-wait a second, did she really just do that?" Tyson asked, pointing at the place where the bit-beasts were before. "With the light and everything?"

"It wasn't me," she answered, slowly shaking her head.

"M-Me?" Hilary shouted, pointing towards herself, unable to believe her own words.

"But how? You said so yourself, it was impossible!" Kenny said.

"Yeah, I don't even have a bit-beast!"

"It was impossible for me. That is your inherent skill, Hilary," she said. Then, she pointed to the immobile beyblades on the floor with her head. "Rigel, you can take your Olyx and Mitch's bit-beast. The next time he tries to have you do something you don't want to, convince him not to."

"Got it," Rigel said. Then he raced to their beyblades, picked them up and, in an euphoric voice, bid them goodbye and thanks before leaving.

"You're going to trust them after what they did?" Tyson asked after he was gone while, still using Dusk as a support, Ellivah walked towards the porch.

"Yes. Nothing that happened was his fault and I think his friend learned his lesson. If not from the umbecoming way I treated him," she answered after she sat down, leaning on one of the beams.

"And what makes you so sure they won't do the same mistake at some point?" He insisted after Dusk vanished inside her beyblade. "Just the fact that you looked at him funny?"

"In that case I'm afraid you'd be far more unforgivable than him, Tyson" she answered. "I've heard about your share of mistakes, and I think you might make more."

"She's got a point," Kenny said.

"Bah, whatever. Let's just keep practicing for tomorrow," he said, coming down from the porch.

"She got your tongue, Tyson?" Daichi asked in a moking tone, jumping after him.

"Shut up, brat."

"Who're you calling a brat? Wanna fight?"

While they argued and Kenny fired up Dizzi to start gathering data as soon as the inevitable began, Hilary approached Ells and asked her in a low voice.

"Do you wanna train some other day?"

She turned at her quietly and ended up nodding. There was no energy left in her to even stand back up. While Hilary sat down next to Kenny and yelled at Daich and Tyson to focus on the game instead of yelling insults at each other, Ells leaned her head against the wooden beam and took a deep breath.

"Here."

Opening her eyes, she gazed quizzically at the sweet bread Kai held in front of here.

"If you want to stay here and pretend you're fine that's up to you, but you should at least stay awake," he bluntly said. She took the bread and slowly took a huge bite, savouring its taste and letting the energy flow to her brain. Meanwhile, he sat down next to her, taking a quick bite from his own bread.

"First the sandwich in the burnt place with the cats, and now this… Why are you being so nice?" She suddenly asked.

"I'm not," he quickly answered. Maybe he was being a little. It was definitely the first time he warmed up to someone so fast.

She didn't ask anything else and he didn't expect her to.

During that lunch break Hilary didn't suddenly leave for the first time in quite a while, so Tyson urged them back to training after they were done eating. According to him the first phase of the tournament would only have weaklings they could all easily defeat, and the true challenge began at semis and at the final. Together with Daichi he used that as an argument after Kenny and Hilary decided to end practice two hours early so that the team could have plenty of rest for the coming day. The bickering only stopped when Hilary shouted from the top of her lungs, scaring both of them into running inside the dojo and shut the door behind them, and making Ellivah lift her head from Kai's shoulder, where it had stayed during the end of practice after he was done, as if she was going to fall asleep on it at any moment.

Knowing that she would be participating on the same tournament, Hilary understood their energy well enough, even though she was sure she felt doubly nervous because it was the first time she joined such an event as a competitor. Unsure if she would even be capable of closing her eyes, she joined a sleeping Ellivah after helping grampa Granger with the dishes, wondering if Tyson felt the same way before his games.

Touching the medallion on her chest helped her calm down, and she fell asleep with her hand resting on it.

_While Kenichi and the rest of their small force made arrangements, Tai and her crept around the palace they were going to assault the next day, holding hands firmly so that they wouldn't get lost in the middle of the unknown woods._

_When light peeked through the brush, they crouched and eavesdropped what was happening in the hushed outer garden. The lord of that land, with two spirit wielders at his side, faced an incredibly angry Ray._

"_You have until tomorrow night," the lord was saying. "If you don't accept my terms, she'll suffer."_

"_Touch Qie Qie and you'll pay dearly for it," the young man snarled._

"_No harm will come to her if you cooperate with me. I'll be waiting for you at this time tomorrow. Let's go, men."_

_Moving his cape, the lord stepped inside the mansion with his bodyguards and the door closed, leaving Ray alone in the dark. Closing his fists, he turned on his heels and jumped for the brush, getting intercepted by Tai and her when they were far from the eyes and ears of the mansion. In the blink of an eye, he jumped a couple of feet away from them and positioned his legs evenly apart, one arm by his stomach and one in front of his face, ready to fight them._

"_Who are you two?" he asked in a composed voice._

"_We're friends," she answered. "We intend to attack that mansion tomorrow."_

"_You have a spirit too, don't you?" Tai asked._

"_Why do you suppose so?"_

"_For the lord to talk to you in person and threaten you with someone, you have to," she answered._

"_Who are they holding? We can save them on our assault," Tai said._

"_You didn't answer my first question. Who are you?"_

"_Oh, we just wanted another ally to fight the lords and their oppressive domain over this country, but I guess we're just two lunatics holding hands in the woods and trying to get ourselves spotted by his men before we can fight him tomorrow. Ouch!" Tai shouted when she dug a fist over his head._

"_That was completely innapropriate, Tai," she said, just barely keeping her voice lower than his shout._

_After a moment of silence, pondering their words, the man relaxed and approached them._

"_You two are with the rebellion that's fighting the nobles."_

"_Yes. Like we said, we're going to attack him tomorrow, so Tai and I were scouting the place," she answered, with a much calmer voice. "We'd be very grateful if you could help us. My name is Hina, and my spirit is-"_

"_Dawn. I've heard of you and your dragon, Priestess of Light."_

"_They're calling you that even this far west?" Tai wondered aloud, scratching his head._

"_If you're the wielder of Dragoon, the blue dragon, they've been calling you the Warrior of the Blue East," he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world._

"_What about you?" she asked, turning for the stranger while Tai struggled whether he should like that name or not._

"_I'm Ryoga. My spirit is a white tiger that goes by Driger, but we are new to these parts. My sister and I came from across the sea, and we were stunned to find spirits and their wielders here are chained against their will. On our country we are honoured. This lord seemed to agree with our ideas until he took my sister before Driger and I could stop him, and he's using her to force me into doing his bidding."_

"_Then there's no reason for you not to join us," Tai said impatiently._

"_No, there isn't," Ryoga said with a nod. "Help me get her back and we'll stay for as long as we can to fight these vicious people."_

Candidates for the Japanese team had been divided into five groups, and one player from each group would be chosen to partake the team. Each group had a tower, the pavilion where all the matches for the group would be held, named according to the western alphabet from "A" to "E". On that first day there would be eight rounds, with games going on simultaneously on all five towers. With enough luck Hilary's games would be at the same time as Daichi and/or Tyson's.

"Looks like no one's on the same tower," Tyson said, looking over everyone else's lists after he checked his own.

"That's alright, that means if we all make it into the finals and win we'll all be together on the team," Kenny said. "If we had to fight each other that wouldn't be possible."

"Huh, guys, I have a list of all the people on my tower and the matching, but I don't have anything about the other towers," Daichi said, after analising his list.

"Apparently it's part of the format to only give the list of the tower where the person is," Kenny said looking it over with Dizzi. "Take a look at this. Tyson's on tower A, Daichi on B, I'm on C, Kai's on D and Ells's on E. Can you borrow me the lists later? I'd like to have a complete list on my laptop to see if there are any other known names showing up."

"Good idea, Chief, let me take a look, see if I recognize anyone on my tower," Tyson said looking back down to skim over the names on his list. "No, I don't know anyone here. What about you, guys?"

"Lemme see…" Daichi quickly looked down and raised an eyebrow. "Ah, there's Rigel in here."

"The kid who came over yesterday? Make sure you put him on his place, Daichi," he answered.

"You got it!"

"Hey, nothing that happened to him was his fault," Hilary said putting her hands on her hips. "What would you do if someone did the same thing to Dragoon?"

Avoiding another argument between the two of them, Kenny looked down on his list and let out a surprised "Oh!", but said it was no big deal when Daichi inquired him about it.

The speakers around the compound claimed the first round of the tournament would begin soon, which included Ellivah in tower E. While the group headed there to sit on the stands, Hilary excused herself, saying she needed to use the restroom, and picked up her own list and registration. She had been placed on tower C with Kenny.

She returned in time to sit next to him, and watch as Ells walked over to the south side of the stadium, waiting for the boy with dishevelled hair to face her on the north side.

As always, Brad Best and A. J. Trooper were in charge of the commentary for the match. While they had no information whatsoever on Ellivah, who had entered under a fake name, they claimed her opponent had no particular asset that they knew of, namely a bit-beast. As they spoke, the match's referee asked the players if they were prepared and, after getting their confirmation, he ordered them to get into position with their launchers, and raised a hand for the countdown.

"Three, two, one, Let it Rip!"

Probably the way the two beyblades cut open the air as they made their way towards the stadium was the origin of their name.

The first to land was Dusk, but she quickly started to draw circles around the stadium, encouraging her foe to follow her. When he was right behind her, the black beyblade swiftly drew an arc around it and clashed with it from behind.

"Wow, what an incredible attack!" Brad Best said while the sparks flew wild.

"This Misaki girl is no joke," A. J. Trooper replied.

Her foe didn't give in and his grey beyblade returned the attack in full force. However, if there were no bit-beasts for her to worry about, Ellivah could grind out a match for as long as she wanted to. While they didn't start to show up, that was how she planned to mask her unique playstyle.

That didn't mean that the fights could go on too long because that would be boring, even for her. So, after playing with the guy for a couple of minutes and let the crowd experience something that looked sensibly balanced, she had Dusk separate herself from the other beyblade and accelerate forward.

"Looks like someone's about to get serious," A. J. Tooper said.

"I'm about to get dizzy just watching this speed," his companion said. When she had enough distance Dusk drew another arc, straight across the beystadium and, using it as a ramp, clashed with the other bey and threw it off the stadium. "And that's that! Bon voyage, Kurokami! Better luck next year."

After looking over at his beyblade behind him, the kid stared at Ellivah with clear frustration, but, keeping the same neutral expression she had worn the entire game, she merely bowed to him and left to join the rest of the group.

The first round wasn't over, so the group decided to watch the end of a match between a pair of twin brothers, which lasted the longest. There would be no one they knew participating on the second round of matches, so they settled for tower D, where Kai would play on the third round. Two girls would be facing off, one of them beefed up like a street gangster and another one with a very frail composure, but determined eyes. Preffering to resort to brute force, the tough girl didn't really consider her actions while the frail one used subtle moves and strength to knock her off into the stratosphere.

While the crowd applauded the match, Kai headed towards the East entrance of the stadium. Once the last battle of the round was over, he was cleared to enter the stage and face his opponent, an older guy with dark long hair and suspicious eyes, with a lollipop sticking out from the corner of his mouth. The commentators claimed he wasn't known for having a bit-beast, but his skills were sufficient to defeat other bladers who did. If his reputation hadn't been built on trashy players it could be an interesting game.

Their beys landed they circled and around the stadium, as if evaluating each other, until Dranzer took a turn and clashed with its foe. He showed himself to be extremely cautious, perfectly aware that he was facing one of the best players in the world and didn't want to lose, but Kai quickly got bored from his tame kind of game and Dranzer responded by mercilessly chasing after his bey and draining its power.

"Looks like Kai just lost his pacience and his attacks hurt!" Brad Best said.

"Let me just say, Brad, I would not like to be in Sakata's place right now," A. J. agreed enthusiastically.

Sakata just barely managed to whitstand the assault and gain some distance from the blue bey, but it quickly caught up and they clashed again. Sparks flew everywhere and the sound of clashing metal was like a roar, appeasing the crowd. Used to all of that, Kai was unimpressed by any of it.

Even if Sakata tried to push him back, he kept beating him in.

"Go!"

With one final push Dranzer threw off the other bey from the stage.

"Woah, Brad! Kai is still in top shape! That amateur had no chance whatsoever!"

"That's why he's a champion."

When the beyblade touched the floor the referee made the result official and the crowed exploded on applause. Unphased, Kai collected Dranzer and rejoined the rest of the group, heading for tower C where Kenny would have his match for round four of the tournament. They left him on the North entrance for the stadium, wishing him luck, and headed for the stands. He was quite nervous, but he was still determined to win that match, feeling somewhat reassured that he wasn't the only one on his tower.

When the signal was given he walked into the stage and tried to ignore the applause for him, his history as the Bladebreakers's technician, and his unique beyblade, Einstein. The fourth round would begin in seconds.

"I can't believe it! I know there isn't an age limit for this tournament, but this is insane! That little girl could barely even hold up her launcher!"

Still with food on their mouths, Tyson and Daichi couldn't help but laugh at Kenny's rant. The pre-schooler that had been Kenny's opponent had been easily defeated, but she watched his Einstein jump with such a gleam in her eyes that he handed her an older version of the beyblade that he still carried with him. The fact she was cute was undeniable, but letting people like her participate was unconceivable to him.

For the fifth round Rigel would be playing on tower B, but Tyson hijacked their plans, claiming the contents of his stomach were too low, and they all headed for the tower's cafeteria, where they could watch the match from the screens spread there. It was a balanced game, and the group watched how Olyx fought with energy and talent, taking the victory. Even though he hadn't taken too much of a liking to him, Tyson ended up commending him for his game, but Daichi quickly protested, claiming it had only been luck. No one payed to much attention to him because his match would be coming next and the nerves were probably showing a little. When they realized they were late, they managed to yank Tyson from the buffet while Daichi ran for his gate.

Daichi's opponent, Clavus Guimarães, was another boy his age, son of two latin foreigners who were living on Japan. Brad and A. J. also revealed he owned a bit-beast named Celes, an imposing golden griffin, and all of his official games had so far ended with his victory.

Neither of them wasted time showing off all of their toys, both using the exact same strategy. They would beat his opponent senseless with all of their might until only one managed to stand back up. The volume of the roars of Celes and Strata Dragoon, as the bit-beasts measured their strenght and the beyblades sparked against each other, was only surpassed by a dozen of children sitting together on the stands with a tall teenager that looked like a native american, cheering for Clavus and calling him their big brother.

"_It's been a while since we've had this much fun!"_

"This is awesome! This is so cool! Get him, Strata Dragoon!"

Under the intensity of the fight the stadium started to break apart, as some metal pieces jumped at high velocity to burn whatever they came in contact with, but Daichi didn't really care about that. That fight was among the most fun he had ever experienced, and his Strata Dragoon brimmed with energy as it butt heads against Celes and Clavus, who was also having the time of his life. However, all goods things must come to an end, and when Clavus's white beyblade tripped on a loose piece of cement from the broken stadium it was hopelessly flung upwards, leaving the golden griffin unprotected.

"_Now!"_

"_No, I wanna keep fighting!"_

"_And do we just forget about the commitment with our friends?"_

"Hmm, ok, take him out!"

Taking the chance, Strata Dragoon used another piece of cement to jump up and hit it in middair, throwing the other bey out of the ruined stadium.

"And the victory goes to Daichi!"

"I have to admit, I thought Daichi could've lost his spot for a while there. We might see some great things from Clavus in the future."

Both of them shook hands enthusiastically, and Daichi returned to the rest of the group.

"That was a great fight," Kenny said as he joined them by the entrance of the gate.

"I dunno, it seemed like it was little too close," Tyson said in a dangerously mocking tone.

"Shut up, you, I'll fight my own way. Can we go back to the cafeteria? I'm hungry again and they have to clean up all the mess," Daichi quickly answered, pointing backwards in the direction of the stadium.

"No way," Hilary answered crossing her arms with a condescending face. "I'm not going back to that tight little place so that you and Tyson can help yourselves until you get sick. I have more interesting things to do than watching the two of you illustrate a human black hole."

"Then go ahead and do those interesting things," Tyson answered bitterly. "I don't need you watching me eat and irritate me all the time."

"Have it your way," she shouted back enraged. "I don't give a damn if you end up missing your match because you have a stomachache. Those interestings things are a lot better than watching a fat, stubborn, stupid troll that can't even launch his bey right."

Dashing away from them, Hilary took a deep breath, thinking that even played to her favour. She had pretty much guaranteed that no one but Ellivah would follow her when it was her time to play, so they wouldn't see her. Because he preferred to watch Tyson's match, and under Hilary's quasi-order, Kai would stay with the boys and make sure they wouldn't go to tower C if Tyson finished too fast.

Feeling more calm, she sat on the edge of the fountain located in front of the main counter for the event, with her back to the splashing water that fell from the stone fishes' mouths to the pool below, and looked about. The boy that had faced Daichi was talking loudly to a dirty blonde girl like they were close friends. Surrounding him were all the children that had cheered him on and the mulatto teenager, still treating him like a big brother even though they didn't look remotely alike. Another boy approached them, with dark hair and eyes almost like Ellivah's, and the girl started to trip over her sentences and gained a pink blush on her cheeks.

All of them were being observed not only by Hilary, but also by another boy, with salmon coloured hair and vivid blue-eyes that stared at them almost like a lunatic. Suddenly he turned his head towards her, as if noticing he was being watched, and looked at her from top to bottom before opening his mouth in what should be a friendly smile, but that only managed to frightnen her more.

She quickly turned her head and looked at the twins from the first round arguing with each other and several families coming and going from the matches or towards the matches that they cared to watch.

"Hello, lass. Did you see Tyson?"

Recognizing the voice, Hilary looked up to grampa Granger, wearing his shorts and Hawaian shirt with a relaxed smile to match.

"Hi, grampa. Tyson? You should look on the tower cafeterias, he said he was hungry the last time I saw him," she said pointing towards the general direction of the towers, trying to hide the irritation that came with the pronounciation of his name.

"I see. Can you walk me there, lass?"

"I'm sorry, I can't," she said, pulling her trumph card. "I'm waiting for someone. Besides, he doesn't need me watching his match."

The way she mentioned him as a dirty word unworthy of spit made the jovial old man see that he was out of his natural element.

"Alright lass, see you later."

Using the guidance of several signposts, he managed to find Tyson on tower A, in the cafeteria like Hilary had described, while round seven was well on its way.

"Hey grandkid!" he said, slamming him on the back almost to the point of making him choke on his bread. "Did you play yet?"

"No, I'm next on the last round," he answered, reaching for his soda afterwards.

"You should get going, by the way," Kenny warned.

"Relax, Chief, you're sounding like Hilary," he said putting the glass down.

"Hey, where is she?" Daichi said looking around for her. "I'm gonna have to get your ass on your tower instead if she doesn't show up."

"Hilary, huh? She was sitting by the fountain, she told me to look for you on the cafeteria. She said she was waiting for someone there," grampa nonchalantly said. On the other hand, his words stopped Tysons chewing process for a moment, feeling an uncorfortable chill on his stomach. He quickly brushed it off and ate the last of his hot dog.

"Let her do whatever she wants. It's not like she could help with my match or anything," he finished his soda and stood up in a flash. "I'm going to my gate."

Before anyone could react he dashed out of the buffet and headed for East gate of tower A. He didn't need Hilary to win. He had never needed her. Let her meet her little boyfriend. Let him take her as far away from him as he could. He didn't care. The further the better.

A game was still going on inside tower E, so he was held on his gate for a short while.

At that exact same moment, Hilary arrived at the North gate of tower C, feeling a weight growing on her chest.

Tyson's name was welcomed with a roar from the crowd so powerful that his history was barely heardable. Not that they needed to present it. Everyone knew the legend of the great Japanese Champion. His opponent couldn't even compare, a street thug that belonged to one of the same gangs where Kai had surfaced from.

He could deal with that sort of people. It was impossible for him to lose there.

He positioned himself to cast his Dragoon.

Hilary's name was clamoured and Ellivah paid attention to what they said about her, feeling her nervousness from her seat. She had excused herself from the rest of group and slipped inside the stands of tower C to watch how Hilary would do.

"Hilary used to belong to the Bladebreakers as their manager, but now it looks like she's trying for a more active role on the team," A. J. said.

"Let's hope her performance lives up to the team's prowess."

"I don't know, Brad, I've heard about her historic lack of skill, it almost caused a full bus to crash on the road."

"We can't say the same about the next competitor."

"Yes, joining the most recent team from the streets we have Tamashiro Go. There are no official games on his name, but the YankeesUp are confident he'll do just fine."

"At least there won't be any traffic accidents in here," Brad finished.

Even though the commentators didn't help her mood at all, it was reassuring knowing that the boy she was playing against was in a similar position to hers.

As the referee started to countdown her heart was about to burst.

She positioned herself and waited for the sentence that started everything.

"Let it rip!"

The two beyblades shot off towards the stadium.

Even though Tyson wasn't exactly willing to waste his time, his opponent was better than he had judged him to be. Not that much better, but good enough to survive his first tackle and not get thrown off like a ragdoll.

Or maybe it was his fault for not being focused, still churning his anger towards Hilary.

Or maybe it was both.

He had preferred for Hilary to be there on the stands with that boyfriend of hers, even if they had to be holding hands. But he was pushing her away.

He still wasn't focusing, and he shook his head to clear his mind. What did he really want after all? Just a few minutes ago he didn't want anything else to do with her, and now all he wanted was for her to be there.

He had to think about that later. Watching the beys spin on the oversized bowl in front of him he knew he could win, no sweat. It was the perfect chance to unload his frustration on that guy's beyblade, without holding anything back.

It was hard for her to believe it, but Hilary was actually doing well. She managed to withstand Go's assault, dodged away from stronger attacks and her skills surprised the commentating duo.

Should she attempt for an attack? Using caution she clashed with her foe, but even with little power his beyblade retroceded.

She was certain of it. She could win.

That guy's defeat was imminent. Tyson was handing him the beating of his life on a silver platter.

It was time to finish the battle and he showed him the way out, making his beyblade fly across the stadium and land on his feet. The match was over and Tyson felt somewhat relieved, waving at his fans on the stands.

"Hey, guys, where did Ells go?" he asked, noticing she wasn't there with the others when he joined them by the gate.

"She said she needed to rest," Kenny answered. "She'll meet us later."

"Oh, okay."

The matches were done for the day, so they walked towards the fountain to wait for her to come back.

She was winning. Hilary was actually winning. She was being competent at beyblade. A couple of weeks before she'd never guess she could beat anyone with ease, but she was doing it.

And she didn't hold back. She attacked with all of her might, thinking that she could reach the finals after all. It wasn't a dream anymore. It was a possibility.

Soon her bey threw off Go's from the stadium and the commentators applauded her effort, adding that influences did create miracles. Trying to go unnoticed, she slipped away from the stage and met Ells by the gate.

"Congratulations," she said with but a sliver of pride. "They should be waiting for us by the fountain. Tyson's already done, too."

It was almost impossible for Hilary to hide her satisfaction, and the boys quickly noticed it when they joined them.

"You're together?" Tyson asked surprised, pointing at them.

"We just met, and Ells said she was going to join you guys," Hilary said with a huge smile slapped on her face.

"You look pretty happy, Hilary. Something good happened?" Daichi asked, to which she nodded. "What?"

Before she could make something up, Tyson spoke for her.

"Probably her boyfriend just kissed her or something, right? I'm sure that's what happened. Admit it, come on."

"Whether it happened or not, I'm sure you have nothing to do with it," she answered, letting the rage fill her brain.

"Yeah, your face says it all."

"Whatever, punk."

"Who are you calling a punk?"

"What else do you want me call you?"

They traded arguments and insults like bulls mashing their horns against each other until Kai and Ellivah broke them apart and hauled them back to Tyson's place, followed by Kenny and Daichi, who kept laughing and calling them both morons. Grampa Granger had gotten take-out, so a feast of pizzas was waiting for them on the kitchen, and everyone dove happily into the food, incluing Hilary. She felt worthy of a small reward, especially with the hunger that had gotten unnoticed until they were well on their way back.

Before they went to sleep the boys practiced for a little longer on the back, while the two girls used the chance to share a bath.

"I wasn't expecting it to be so easy," Hilary said over the shower, as it cleared the shampoo from her hair. "When I'm training with you and Kai I always lose like it's nothing."

"We have experience and bit-beasts, you don't," Ellivah answered, applying conditioner on her lilac streaks. "It's hard for someone who doesn't have one to defeat someone who does and knows how to use them."

"Hmm, sure, but…" she started, covering herself with a towel, ready to change into something more confortable until they went to sleep.

"We should talk to Kenny," Ells suddenly said. "Your beyblade needs some adjustments."

"Are you sure? I don't think there's anything wrong."

"Didn't you notice the parts that are almost breaking from wear? You have been training a lot, I'm afraid," she answered turning back to her. Not as much as the boys, of course, but their beyblades were under constant surveillance from Kenny and their parts were kept pristine. Even Ellivah had started to trust Dusk over to him to look after practice and fix whatever could be slightly off.

Agreeing to her advice, Hilary got dressed and dried her hair, helping Ells afterwards since she seemed to be unware of the existence of hair dryers, let alone how to use them. Then they climbed down the stairs, hearing Tyson and Daichi's incessant shouting, and met all four of them on the back.

"Hey, listen up!" Hilary yelled, putting her hands on her hips. "For how long are you planning to stay here and practice? Get yourselves in the shower and go to sleep. You won't be able to play properly tomorrow if you don't get some rest. Daichi, you had lots of trouble on your match today, and you kept sneaking out last night to train. And you too, Tyson. I heard your match didn't go as well as it was supposed to, and that you were out of focus."

"I was perfectly fine," he answered dryly.

"Right," she answered with a sarcastic tone. "At least Daichi did exactly what everyone expected him to."

"Ha! I'm better than you, by Hilary's own words!" Daichi said laughing.

"In your dreams," Tyson said, smoking from the top of his head.

"Come on, guys, let's knock it off," Kenny said, trying to stop the argument from lighting up even more.

"Oh, Kenny, can I have a word with you later?" Hilary said, as she had suddenly remembered something important.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, sure."

"What's it about?" Daichi asked.

"Nothing that really concerns you. Especially not you," she said staring furiously at Tyson.

"Now you got my attention, what is it?" he asked, brushing off the threat as no big deal.

"It's about homework for the holiday, something you haven't even touched yet, am I right?" she said bitterly.

Tyson bit his lip. "Maybe."

"See? I'm always right. You're the one who's too dumb to listen to me."

It was like throwing wood into the cinders, and the argument broke down again. Lately the two of them fought more often than not, but Kenny could understand why Hilary had been so irritable, at the very least. Nerves from a first official beyblade match were something he remembered all too well. But Tyson always going along, sometimes starting fights himself? His temper was the shortest he knew, but something had cut his fuse even more.

Since the two of them didn't calm down soon enough, Kai had Tyson and Daichi follow him to the dojo, leaving Kenny there for whatever business Hilary had with him.

"So, what did you want from me?" he asked when they heard the door slide shut. "It's not about homework, is it?"

"Ah, no, no, it's…" Hilary started with a nervous laugh.

"Could you take a look a her beyblade?" Ellivah asked for Hilary.

"Sure."

With her white, light blue and pink beyblade on his expert hands, Kenny sat down on the porch to insert data about it on Dizzi as he separated its parts. He knew she had gotten it from Mr. Tate and created a new file with the basic information he told him, but he had never actually seen it.

"It looks pretty worn out. You've been practicing really hard," he said, starting to put it back together. "I've never seen you play. I need to, to see what what can I do about it."

"But Tyson..."

"Don't you worry about him," Dizzi quickly said. "His sleep is heavier than the entire solar system, including asterioids and comets."

Just in case, Hilary peeked through the dojo door to make sure he and Daichi were already snoring before joining Ells for the most quiet game she could play.

It surprised Kenny to see how good Hilary was. Dizzi pushed her into attacking with all of her strength, something she didn't usually do, and Dusk was caught by surprise with her power, forced back for a moment before speeding up again and holding its ground.

Once he had enough information on her playstyle, Kenny asked Hilary to complete some standart manouvers by herself to check just how her beyblade was moving without interference.

"Alright, I think I got it," he said wrapping up his analysis. Both Hilary and Ellivah were already sitting next to him and watched Dizzi's complicated monitor from above his shoulders. "For tomorrow I can give you a couple of new parts, but I'll need more time to give you a proper beyblade for your style. Maybe I'll go to the BB Shop…"

He quickly took her beyblade apart again, replaced a couple of parts and reassembled it, handing it back to her while claiming she should get used to them before going to sleep. Technician tests for the team would be held the next morning, and even if he was trying for team player he would never skip those, so he couldn't help her at that time.

"When you get the tech spot, you stay on the tournament, at least until the two of us can have a match," Hilary said determinantly.

"Ok, but same thing goes for you," Kenny managed to say. "I want to see just how well you'll do."

It was almost like Tyson challenging him all over again to fight against him on official matches. However, he had never actually made it that far.

Maybe the reason why Hilary and Tyson had been repelling each other was because they were so alike.

_Seing the lord escape with the help of those few still loyal to him, she couldn't help but laugh while her small force celebrated their success._

_While they helped the enslaved escape and meet their families, much like the first mansion they had accidentally freed while rescuing Tai, someone tapped her shoulder and she turned around to meet Ryoga and a younger girl with the same black hair and face, but sharp green eyes._

"_Priestess, you must come to the basement," she said with a bit of urgency. "There's a man tied there with his spirt, they're both hurt."_

_Nodding to Ryoga, she let him and his sister lead the way._

"_Who's he?" she asked._

"_I've asked around, they said he was already a slave when his spirit manifested. He was always alone, so they locked him up in the dungeon to stop him from escaping this place."_

_Calling for Tai and Kenichi on the way, the five of them descended for the lower levels of the mansion, letting the recently freed servants open the doors before them._

_On the floor of a massive, cold cave laid Dranzer, his wings pinned down by a pair of spirit claws, too weak to even move. On the furthest corner hung a very long haired Kai, his wirsts tied to the roof by metal chains while a veil of water poured on his head._

_Dragoon pulled the claws from the phoenix's wings and Hina rushed to heal its wounds while Ryoga materialized a small verson of Driger to cut the man's chains, catching him with Tai's help as he fell to the floor._

"_What do you want?" he asked weakly._

"_We're getting you out of here," Tai answered._

"_Neither you nor your spirit will be prisoners again," Ryoga said._

_With a bit more strength, the phoenix rose from the floor and beat its stiff wings with a weak, but pleased cry, while Hina put a put a blanket over his naked shoulders._

"_What's your name?" she asked him. He looked at her suspiciously, like a scared, cornered animal, but answered._

"_Kaito."_

"_Kaito, your spirit is tired, but he'll be able to fly again in a couple of days. Both of you can stay with us for as long as you need to."_

"_Then you can get payback on the people that did this to you, or you can just go about your way. Your choice," Tai said with a reassuring voice. His expression mellowed a little and he nodded back, letting his spirit return inside of him and those two people carry him away from the cold darkness._

Chapter 6 – _"Success"_

Morning arrived, warm and bright, and Kenny was prepared to ace his tech competition. According to the format, each candidate would be given a type of player, and they had to built a beyblade that suited them. A pool of countless parts would be provided for them and the winner would have access to all of them to build the beys for the Japanese team. Only Tyson and Daichi didn't bid him good luck when he left the house, as they were still snoring, wrapped up on their sheets.

Using the quietude of the morning Ellivah and Hilary slipped out to the burnt house to practice some more and perfect control over her renovated beyblade, having been unable to do much the previous night. As he was also awake, Kai joined them to see for himself how much Hilary had improved and to practice with Ellivah for a while.

They returned to Tyson's place before lunch, and Hilary found him and Daichi occupying the toilet, fighting over Tyson's toothpaste.

"Dammit, Daichi, get one for yourself," he grumbled, trying to get the tube of his hands.

"Why should I buy one when I can just use this one?"

"Oh, for crying out loud, would you two grow up?" she said, crossing her arms. It hadn't been the first time that particular fight happened and it was starting to get on her nerves.

"Shut up, hag," Daichi answered, winning him and Tyson a red slap on the cheek.

To distract her mind from the two of them, Hilary picked up a recipe book from her backpack and pushed Ellivah into the kitchen, thinking it would be a good opportunity to teach her how to cook. As always, Tyson claimed her food would come out a messy blob and Daichi joined him out of spite for his burning cheek, getting both of them got kicked out of the house before long. While they shouted for Hilary to open up and let them in to finish breakfast, Kai lied on the grass in the back, basking in the norning sun with the stillness of a lizard.

Hilary only came to the door when Kenny shouted from the other side.

"I'm back!"

Leaving everything in Ellivah's hands, she rushed for the entrance before anyone else.

"How did it go?" Hilary asked.

"They asked me to build a beyblade for a player profile almost exactly like yours," he said after making sure no one else was there to listen to them. "I was already working on something for you, so I'm feeling pretty good about what I built. I'm getting the results this afternoon, if it all goes well I can give you that beyblade."

"Really? That's so fortunate!" she said joyfully. "I think you've nailed that tech spot."

"Sure hope so," Kenny replied while the pair of footsteps, coming from the other side of the wall, grew louder.

"Hey, Chief, how did it go?" Tyson asked, emerging from the back with Daichi.

"Hey, why are you here by yourself, Hilary?" Daichi asked. "Shouldn't you be helping Ells to make sure lunch isn't worse than normal?"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WORSE THAN NORMAL?"

After ensuring Daichi's red cheek was burning again, she returned to the kitchen, but other than letting the onion burn just a little nothing critical had happened.

There would be two phases that afternoon, four rounds of quarter finals and two rounds of semi-finals. Between the two of them there would be an hour-long break, during which the result for the team's technician would be announced.

"Say, Ells, why did you go soft on the other guy yesterday?" Tyson asked while they approached tower E, where she was going to participate on the first round of the quarter finals. "I know you entered under a fake name and everything to tip those guys off, but…"

"It's exactly for the same reason," she answered. "Not a lot of people play like I do with Dusk, and I'd rather make myself look like a worse player than I am for as long as I can, as unbecoming as that is."

"Hmm, I see."

"What if someone has a bit-beast and can fight back? What are you going to do then?" Daichi asked.

"Finish the match as quickly as I can."

Once again Brad Best and A. J. Trooper were in charge of the commentary. It was mystifying how they managed to keep tabs on so many matches all at the same time, but thinking about it only made people gain a headache. At exactly 15 pm, the time stipulated for the matches to start, both their voices started to echo around the speakers sprinkled around the pavilion, momentarily silencing the crowd.

"Good afternoon, Brad!"

"Good afternoon, A. J!," Brad answered just as cheerfully. "We have our hands full of beyblade today, so let's get going. Our first competitor for the day is a new girl that came completely out of nowhere and made an impression with some very fast moves."

"That's right, Brad, Misaki Yoshimitsu is a new face that shows some promise, but she'll have to best one tough cookie to get through to the semi-finals."

"Yakizashi Akio is one of the best players from the Kanzai region, known for his speed and his bit-beast, Kenzo. This might be a very interesting match."

While Ellivah's mouth subtly twisted and her entire battle plan was redrawn, Tyson turned to Daichi and claimed he had jinxed her game, which was good because he wanted to watch her being serious.

"Three, two, one, Let it Rip!

Dusk landed on the disk and bolted with the speed of a bullet towards the other side of the stadium, where the other beyblade would land. It caught its base on its attack ring like a dog catching something in its jaws and tossed it out of the stadium just as fast.

It was still spinning, but the result was clear.

"What was that?!" Brad shouted while the crowd applaused fervently the manouver. "That was the fastest match I've ever seen!"

"That must have broken a couple of records, that speed was out of this world!"

Back on the gate, Ells found everyone just as excited as she thought they'd be with that performance, except for Kai, but she had also expected him to know just what she was capable of.

"That was incredible!" Kenny said while she joined them.

"How did you do that?" Hilary asked.

"Winning without a drop of sweat… You're practically on the team at this point," Daichi thought aloud.

"I do belive that-"

"I'm going to win the next match just as fast she did!" Daichi claimed, cutting Ellivah off.

"Keep dreaming, Daichi," Tyson said with a laugh. "That will only happen when pigs fly."

"Why you… Wanna bet?" he shouted back.

"Sure," Tyson answered with a smirk. "If you can't win the next match just as fast as Ells you'll have to… Let's see… Oh, I know. You'll have to run around main street on your underpants."

"Are you kidding me? That's mean!"

"Yeah, Tyson, that's too much to ask for," Hilary said.

"Well, those are my rules," he answered assuredly, turning back to Daichi and giving him a mischievous smile. "Unless you're too chicken to take them."

Although Hilary was about to shout back at Tyson, Daichi's pride stepped in first.

"Deal! But if I win you'll have to spend an entire day obeying Hilary's orders. She says buy, you buy. She says sit, you sit. She says run around the street naked, you run around the street naked. And you'll stop whining whenever I use your toothpaste."

An absolutely evil slash crossed Daichi's face.

"Do we have a deal, or are you too chicken to accept my rules?"

There was no way Daichi would succed in doing something as precise as that movement Ellivah had shown them, and Tyson was far from being chicken. Even if those terms were outrageous in all regards.

"Deal!"

They both shook hands and Tyson made a point that everyone standing there were witnesses and had to make Daichi do his part when he lost the bet.

"Knock it off!" Hilary said when they started trying to figure out who could squeeze the other hand harder. "The next round's about to start, and Kai and Kenny will both play. We have to decide who's going to watch who."

"I want someone to record my match with Dizzi," Kenny quickly said.

"I can do it, if that's alright," Ellivah said. "I'm good with computers."

"I'll go with you, then," Hilary said, turning to Tyson and Daichi next. "So the two of you should go watch Kai."

"But I know he's going to win, and I wanna cheer for our Chief," Tyson answered.

"I don't mind," Daichi quickly said. "I might learn some cool stuff for the bet."

"You wish! You know what? I'll go to Kai's match with Daichi."

Bidding good luck to the players, the group split up into tower C and tower D. With a bit of a run Kenny managed to arrive at his gate just in time to listen to the commentators talk about his opponent, the oldest of Daichi's first opponent's brothers. Fábio Guimarães had native American traces on his skin tone, hair and face, but wore jeans and a t-shirt just like everybody else, which helped make him feel a little less intimidating alongside his friendly smile. Like Clavus, Fábio also owned a bit-beast, a vivid yellow snake named Slash, but, according to the commentators, he was impatient and clumsy, which were flaws Kenny absolutely had to abuse in order to win.

After the commentators talked a little about Kenny himself the referee started his countdown and Ellivah fired up Dizzi's webcam recorder, making sure it was well aimed towards the stadium.

"Get him, Kenny!" Hilary yelled.

"Come on, Kenny, make me a proud laptop instead of a laptop you're proud of!" shouted Dizzi.

"Let it Rip!"

As soon as it touched the disk Einstein started hopping. Fábio's yellow beyblade rushed towards it but Einstein leaped over. Trying to catch the green beyblade on the ground or close to it Fábio kept turning around and aiming towards Kenny, which was a good strategy if he didn't constantly miss the right timing.

"Well Brad, looks like we'll have a long battle ahead of us. Kenny's hopping technique is all defense, and Fábio just can't seem to hit him at all," A. J. said while a vein popped up on the redskin's forehead. "What are your thoughts, Brad? Who will take this match?"

"It's hard to say, A. J. On his previous game Fábio almost lost, and we didn't see much from Kenny this tournament."

"Go Kenny!" Hilary and Dizzi yelled, while Ellivah gazed undisturbedly at the stadium.

Using the edges of the disk, which elevated slightly up, Fábio's beyblade took off from the disk and glided from one side to the other, menacingly casting yellow lightning. It was flying far above the height Einstein could jump at and, missing its mark, it almost landed outside of the beystadium.

"Calm down, Fábio!"

Recognizing the voice, Hilary looked to the other side of the stands to see the girl who was with him, Clavus, and all of their siblings, the previous day by the fountain. While she had seemed pretty normal back then, her posture was now ferocious and her hazel eyes sparked energy that could rival Tyson's.

Listening to her words, Fábio switched back to his first strategy, but kept missing his mark.

"I told you to calm down, dammit!" the girl yelled louder.

"The hell's her problem?" said a familiar voice from behind them.

"Tyson? You're back already?" Hilary asked surprised after turning back.

"Duh? Kai's match's over," he answered while Kai and Daichi's silluetes became clear in the dark behind him. "What's taking so long?"

"Oh, it's just a guy with the same amount of pacience as you."

"Are you implying something, Hilary?"

"What do you think?"

"Will you two drop it? The Chief's out there giving his hardest and you're still arguing about who insulted who," Daichi shouted, getting himself between the two of them.

"You're right, Daichi" Hilary said, turning back towards the match and shouting again. "Go, Kenny! You can do it!"

A drop of sweat ran down Kenny's forehad. Fábio was improving his aim. It was true that Einstein wasn't designed for offense, but it was still capable of winning games.

Einstein hopped on the rim of the stadium and Kenny waited there for his opponent to come close. While the commentators belived he had lost control of his beyblade, Fábio charged ahead just like he wanted it to. When the yellow beyblade was close enough Einstein leaped above it, Fábio stopped on the rim of the disk but, when Einstein landed hard on top of it, it lost its balance and was thrown out.

The commentators complimented his smart thinking and Kenny felt happy with himself as he shook hands with Fábio who, albeit a bit upset, didn't take the loss too seriously.

"Well done, Kenny!" Hilary said when he emerged from his gate.

"My little boy has grown so much…" Dizzi sniffed inside her laptop.

Soon the group was headed towards tower B for the third round, where the bet between Tyson and Daichi would be settled. Letting Tyson and Kenny lead the group further ahead, while the first showered the second with compliments and gave him confidence for the semi finals, Daichi approached Ellivah and asked her for advice on how to win battles in a split second. She refused at first, claiming it would be unfair, but she started reconsidering when Hilary joined him after another fight with Tyson, about making Kenny feel overconfident. The two girls were already good friends and, even though Hilary wasn't always in the right, Ellivah didn't like the way Tyson treated her all the time, especially concerning the tasty food she made for all of them without asking for anything in return. How was it possible he didn't enjoy it?

And then Kai joined in, saying it would be interesting to watch Tyson being Hilary's slave, so she agreed to help, and whispered to Daichi all sorts of different techiniques he could apply depending on a number of details he had to watch out for, before the beyblades even started spinning.

A smirk appeared of Daichi's face when he realized that the menacing girl that was his opponent, wearing piercings and heavy dark clothing, was an amateur with no bit-beast who had advanced to that round because her opponent before was a no-show. He wasn´t sure he'd be able to replicate what Ells had told him because he didn't even put it to test, but he was going to try anyway. When countdown began and he positioned himself with his launcher he looked closely at the girl's launcher and the position of her hands. Remembering what had Ells said, her beyblade was going to land just to the right of the disk, but her hand on the launcher was steady so it would probably fall closer to him, and he aimed his beyblade accordingly.

He never rationalized a lot during his matches, but to win that bet he was willing to do anything.

"Let it Rip!"

The girl's beyblade landed first and Strata Dragoon landed right on the edge of its attack ring, stipping it from all its balance and making it lurch dangerously, which Daichi used to throw it of the stadium.

On Dizzi's timer the game lasted half a second more than Ellivah's, and everyone agreed that meant he had been just as fast as her. Tyson was even unable to protest, looking at the stadium with his mouth open wide, frozen in place, which Dizzi was happy to record on Hilary's request, even against Kenny's will.

Emerging from the gate to join the rest of them, Daichi was laughing and calling Tyson a moron. He laughed even harder when Dizzi and Hilary showed him the recording of his astonished face.

"Now don't forget, I have permission to use your toothpaste anytime I want! And you have to obey Hilary for an entire day!" he laughed, almost unable to believe Tyson was actually going to do it.

"Ok, ok, I get it," he said, tired of being of target of such malice. "Come on, Hilary. What's your order?"

"What, now?"

"Yeah."

"I'm afraid that would be innapropriate as per the rules of your bet, Tyson," Ellivah said. "You agreed to obey her command for an entire day, and this one's half-way through."

"And you won't be able to work for her while you're playing," Kai said.

"_You're_ taking their side too?" Tyson asked in disbelief.

"They have a point, Tyson," Kenny said. "It should be a day that suits Hilary, not you."

"Argh!"

"Stop complaining, you got into this yourself," Hilary said putting her hands to her hips. "Hurry up to tower A, it's your turn to play."

"Alright, let's just go there, then."

"I'm not coming with you."

Fearing the answer, Tyson turned back around and asked, trying to keep his voice in check.

"Why?"

"I need to get some urgent stuff for my mom. She's been pestering me all day because of it, she can't go out and get them herself," she answered, starting to turn around towards the exit.

"Can't you go after my match?" he asked with a bit of an upset voice.

"No, she's been really annoying," then she turned around and started ruuning, shouting and waving back. "I'll be here in time for Kenny's results on the tech stuff. You'd better win, Tyson!"

Altough the news were somehow boring, as long as there was no foreign boyfriend to worry about he could live with the fact she wouldn't be able to watch his match. Besides, the way she had just threatened him reassured him that she still cared about the team's results. Her boyfriend hadn't been able to withdraw her completely out of the sport just yet.

After hiding behind the walls of the main cafeteria, Hilary waited for the group to vanish inside tower A and ran for tower C. Since Kenny had won his match she had to win hers as well. Meanwhile, he claimed he needed to check something on Kai's Dranzer, and both of them left Ellivah taking care of the restless Daichi to watch Hilary's match.

A novelty in the world of the sport, quite a few people were cheering for Hilary as she approached the stadium and faced her foe, whose dark skin, lip piercing and suspicious demeanor somewhat intimidated her.

Meanwhile Tyson would play against a British tourist who had quite a crowd cheering for him, all of them dressed in long, colourful robes. A. J. and Brad Best claimed he was new to the sport but was given a bit-beast that belonged to his parents, who had both passed away.

On the given mark, all of the players threw out their beyblades.

"Tyson is looking much better today, Brad!"

"Yes, A. J., I'm surprised this Harry is still standing, that must be some nerve he's got."

The crowd vibrated wildly with the way both beyblades ceaselessly clashed with each other and, even though Tyson was clearly more experienced than his foe, he wouldn't go down without a fight, which suited him just fine. A hard match is always more fun than someone who gives up at adversity.

Dragoon sped up his attack and left Harry's beyblade dangerously out of spin, until with a clamor it regained control and dodged what would be the ending blow.

"Prongs!"

From the glowing bit rose a golden and red stag and his beyblade attacked Dragoon with new found power, making Tyson's mouth widen into a challenging smile.

"Dragoon!"

It was going to be a promising one. Harry wasn't letting the audience down. How could they?

Her foe was much stronger than the one from the previous day, but she was still better than him. Now that she had more experience she could tell her beyblade yaw a bit when curving, and needed to be lighter and have more grip to the ground. But she had already gotten used to its small faults and she could take the win with them. There were people cheering for her, how could she let them down?

She attacked her opponent fiercely, and he was unable to answer with the same power as Ells or Kai, but it didn't matter. Hilary was having fun. She was enjoying herself to the point of wondering why she had ever considered beyblade to be such a stupid sport before. When she thought about it at night, on the edge between lucidity and dreams, she could say just whose passion had been strong enough to subtly, but surely, change her.

"_Thank you, Tyson."_

"_You are certainly in better shape when Dawn is not with her."_

"_Who the hell's Dawn?"_

"_My, my, Tyson, for your jealousy to be so great that you forgot the name of your greatest rival yet. I am impressed. No, not any of those, Hilary's boyfriend."_

The crowd's ovation damp the sound of clashing metal and the breaking of the stadium while the beyblades mashed furiously into each other and Dragoon wrestled with Prong's horns.

"_What's that supposed to mean?"_

"_Is it not true that he is the one who you hate the most and most want to face? And he doesn't even play this game. What more worthy rival could there be?"_

"_Someone who actually shows his face!"_

Something cracked dangerously below the beyblades and both of them split up before getting swallowed up by a crater only large enough to grab hold of a base and force it to stop spinning.

"_You are losing focus. Let us finish these two."_

"_You're the one who started it!"_

"_You're the one who's allowing yourself to be lured by mine words."_

Tyson grit his teeth and yelled:

"Phantom Evolution Hurricane!"

Both beyblades were cast into the air, carried by storm winds but, although Harry reacted like it was the first time he saw such a feat, his bit-beast rode the tornado perfectly.

Once the two beys reached the same height they started clashing against each other and Prongs horns locked with Dragoon again. Without anything powering the wind it quickly vanished, and the blades fell to the ground still hitting each other on the way down.

"_They're good."_

"_We are better."_

Without the air current Prongs lost his balance, and before it could recover Dragoon landed on top of it and pushed it away from the disk. The red beyblade fell outside of the stadium and, although Dragoon landed on the rim, it managed to balance itself and enter what was left of it.

An explosion of applause ensured while Tyson greeted Harry and commended him for his talent. He only found Ellivah and Daichi waiting for him at the gate, which saddened him a bit because everyone had just lost an incredible match, but the girl said Kenny and Kai had probably followed the whole thing on one of the cafeterias and suggested searching for them on the main one.

The boy's strategy changed. He understood Hilary was too quick to escape from and riposted instead. It surprised Hilary at first and her beyblade lost steam, but she quickly adapted to the new rhythm of the game, dodging stronger moves and counterattacking swiftly. For now she was grateful for the easy matches. It meant it would be easier for her and Kenny to meet at the tower C final. However, something inside of her yearned for an opponent that would actually try her skills, to see how good she actually was without being tossed aside like her mentors effortlessly did.

Her foe was incapable of withstanding her assault. His brown beyblade stopped spinning on the disk merely due of the friction.

More people joined those that had supported her since the end of her first game and, though Hilary waved at them and bowed deeply, she found herself praying Tyson wouldn't overhear one or more of them talk about her.

She joined Kenny and Kai at the gate, but the tech results were coming up soon and the Chief left the two of them. The rest of the group was about to leave the main cafeteria because they hadn't found Kenny or Kai there, but stopped when they saw him arriving with Hilary, which spurred Tyson into asking how they were suddenly together.

"I found him and Kenny by the fountain after I gave the stuff to my mom," she quickly said. "Kenny went to check the results for the technician tests."

"Oh, ok," was his simple reply. He sounded bummed out for some reason but Hilary couldn't be assed to ask why.

"I'm so nervous," she ended up saying. "I hope he got the spot."

"Then why didn't you go with him?" Daichi asked.

"It would be unfair for me to know the results before everyone else."

"You should at least eat something, you had almost nothing for lunch," Daichi said pushing for the buffet.

"Oh, I'm not that hungry."

"You still should, or you're going to regret it later," Tyson insisted. "We're still staying here for a couple more hours."

"I agree with them this time, Hilary, you should at least have a sandwich," Ells said.

Convinced with all of their arguments, she took a mixed sandwich from the buffet table and sat down with Tyson and the rest of them, listening to him talk about his previous match and how she would've loved to see all the cool stuff that happened in it. Daichi cut him off sometimes to point out his mistakes, but both of them talked with their mouths full and it was hard to understand what they fought about when they started butting heads against each other.

It was only Kenny's arrival that put the arguing on hold. He burst through the cafeteria door and only stopped, panting, in front of their table, drawing the attention of several other people eating there.

"Kenny! How did it go?" Hilary asked. No one understood the answer the first time, so they let him catch his breath before speaking again.

"I'm in."

Tyson, Daichi and Hilary jumped with joy and circled him while a couple of the other clients of the cafeteria clapped at his success.

"I knew you'd do it!" Tyson said.

"Awesome, Chief!" Daichi said.

"Good job, Chief," Kai said in a much lower volume than the two of them.

"Thanks, you guys," Kenny said feeling humbled at all the support.

"Keep trying hard on your matches and I'm sure you'll get to the final!" Hilary said.

"You bet, Hilary," he answered, getting her cue.

"Come and eat something, Chief, you'll need the energy," Tyson said urging him to sit next to him.

Once they were all done eating, Kenny complied to their requests and showed them the beyblade he had built to victory. The sun's reflection on the white attack ring almost hurt the eyes, eased with several golden, dark green, light pink and blue decorations. Besides the protusions on the attack ring it also had small flippers between the metal ring and the attack ring to give the blade faster spin and aerodynamics. When they took the beyblade on their hands, taking a look at its simple light blue base, it was incredibly light, perfect for the kind of high velocities that Ellivah was an expert at.

"Woah, Chief, this is a very good bey," Tyson said feeling its weight. "It's a shame I like a little more power, or I'd use it myself."

"I know that, Tyson, but I already know who I'm going to give it to," Kenny answered.

"Really? Who's that?" Daichi asked.

"Someone with the right battle style," he answered. "But don't worry, with all the parts that we got I can upgrade all of your beyblades without too much trouble."

"Sweet!" Tyson said.

"Are you going to give that to Ells?" Daichi insisted. "She's the only one of us who can handle so much speed."

"I'm afraid not," she answered shaking her head. "Dusk is already perfect for me. That beyblade is lighter and isn't aligned the way I prefer. It would take me a long time to get used to it. But it is remarkable bey, Kenny. Your skills are impressive."

"Thanks," he answered looking down to the table to hide a slight blush.

Stroking Kenny's ego would have to wait, as the speakers gained life with a timed warning.

"Participants for the semi finals, first round, head for their gates. The matches will start in ten minutes. I repeat…"

"That refers to Kenny, Kai, and me," Ellivah said. "We should hurry."

"I want someone to record me," Kenny said. "I want all the data I can get to prepare for the finals. And I got this to record one more game."

From the same shoulder bad where he carried Dizzi whenever she wasn't being used he produced a small camera that he placed on the table, taking the chance to take Dizzi from the same bag and switch her on.

"But that's only for two matches," Daichi noted.

"You can record your match and Kai's," Ellivah said. "You don't need to record me."

"Guys, I don't think I can work with that fancy camera," Hilary said analising the equipment Kenny had brought with him.

"That's fine, girl, you'll be in charge of me," Dizzi said while Kenny set her up to record the matches. "Just follow my orders, ok?"

"I think I'd rather give the camera to Hilary than Tyson or Daichi," Kenny admitted.

"Relax, Chief. All you have to do is tell me how that thing works, no sweat," Tyson said.

"Yeah, that'll make me relax," he answered without changing his tone of voice.

"I could use without the sarcasm."

Eventually Tyson was left in charge of recording Kai with the camera and taking care of Daichi while Hilary would record Kenny's match with Dizzi. Insisting that she didn't mind, Ellivah would be playing without anyone watching her. As they split up into their towers, Tyson and Daichi were already arguing about who would carry the camera to the stands, while Hilary sighed and hoped for the best.

She split up from Kenny inside tower C and sat on the lower seats of the practically empty stands, from where she had a good view over the entire beystadium and both players. Following Dizzi's instructions she flipped her webcam towards the disk and plugged a sort of antenna into one of her USB ports, which would capture the signal from the camera they had lent Tyson and let Dizzi process it.

A window on the bottom right screen popped up where a crowd was gathering for Kai's match, and the two idiots could very clearly be heard. They talked about beyblade, which wasn't surprising at all considering Tyson wanted to make another bet with Daichi, but when the short red hair claimed he was just scared of having to deal with old hag Hilary she was pissed to the point of slapping him to the Moon.

"Hey, watch the hands," Dizzi said when Hilary started to smash at her keyboard. "I'm a delicate laptop, not a voodoo dool."

"Sorry, Dizzi," she quickly said, loosening her fingers.

"Ok. Input the same code on the webcam window and you're done. After that I just need you to make sure its aimed at the stadium."

Looking at the camera window she could see the match on tower D was about to start. Kai would fight the fragile looking girl from the first round of the elimination matches.

Meanwhile, the commentators started introducing Kenny, and Hilary cheered strongly when he emerged from his gate. On the other hand, his opponent made her feel a chill down her spine. It was the same salmon-haired boy who, the day before, had given her one of the strangest and ugliest smiles she had ever seen. Something about him other than the eyes of a lunatic scared her for some reason, and she prayed Kenny would win quickly.

"And facing him is Kurai Tsukino. We can't consider it a surprise that he got this far, right A. J.?" Brad was saying.

"You bet, Brad. Just the way he looks made his first opponent forfeit, and quite honestly, I wouldn't like to be down there playing against him either."

"No doubt, A. J., but I think Kenny there isn't someone who lets get intimidated by looks, as he showed in the quarter finals."

"I don't know, Brad, he seems pretty intimidated to me."

The referee started to countdown. The battle was well under way on tower D, and the girl was hanging strong against Kai. There was no way to know how Ells was doing, but something told Hilary she was doing just fine.

"Let it Rip!"

Seemingly guessing his trajectory, Kurai's orange beyblade and Kenny's green one clashed in the air, and metal parts were stripped from Einstein even before it landed on the disk. Thankfully it started hopping just fine, meaning the jumping system was left intact.

Nervous from the first devastating blow, Kenny just barely avoided the orange beyblade as much as he could.

"Calm down, Chief!" Hilary yelled when he closely dodged a powerful attack. "If you don't calm down you won't be able to think straight!"

When he didn't seem to even listen to her, she shouted again.

"This isn't that different from last game and you still won, right?"

Finally assimilating Hilary's words, Kenny managed to shake away his fear and focus, easily avoiding his opponent's attacks and even jumping on top of him like a trampoline when he had the chance to go on the offensive.

According to the commentators Kurai's only match had ended without much effort, which meant Kenny was doing great against him. Trying his luck, he had Einstein follow the orange beyblade, jumping on top of it several times and stopping it from regaining its proper balance. Witnessing the assault, Kurai's faced loaded with more and more fury as he was constantly hit without being unable to hit back.

Until he called.

"DarkWindash!"

In an instant there was something surrounding the stadium and the stands that froze Hilary to the intimacy of her being. An atmosphere much alike others she had felt before.

"What's that?" Dizzi asked, feeling the same.

From the orange beyblade a misty fog emerged, floating over the beystadium ominously. It produced the form of a two tailed fox, darkened by a black aura and then vanished.

"That's…"

"It's just like Olyx and the other one…" Hilary said, finishing Dizzi's sentence.

There was something sick with that bit-beast, even more so than with Olyx and his friend, as if the two of them had been nothing but cheap fakes and that was the real thing. On the camera window displayed on Dizzi's monitor Tyson had shut the camera and ran with Daichi to meet Kai by his gate. All of them had felt the same aura and knew it was too close, and as they ran from the tower, they saw someone in an even bigger rush to find where it was coming from.

"Ells!"

"Tower C!"

Knowing it was Kenny's match, the four of them sped up towards it. The orange beyblade was steady, barely afflicted by the green blade jumping on top of him, and ended up casting it aside as if it was but a fly. Einstein landed on the stadium but Kenny's nerves were back in full force and Hilary and Dizzi had lost their supporting voice to the Dark Beast that opposed him. The commentators frantically shouted before the newest development, having no idea Kurai held a bit-beast or where it came from, and wondered if Kenny would fall to it or win with only his wit again.

"Attack, DarkWindash!" Kurai roared.

Answering the command, the orange blade advanced towards Einsten, which managed to jump above it on the last second. Kurai's reflexes were better but Kenny still managed to dodge him time and time again. However, his attack plan had been tossed out the window and there would come a time when DarkWindash was going to hit him. Even though Kurai was far from sane, he wasn't impatient or inexperienced like Fábio.

But Kenny had to win. He had promised Hilary the two of them were going to play against each other on that tournament, and that was a promise he had missed far too many times. Hilary herself only wanted to close her eyes and stop watching, but she couldn't do it. She was going to keep them open until the end, which didn't stop the computer on her lap from shaking. Dizzi didn't even complain. All she could do was pray for Kenny's victory, from divine intervention if need be.

"What's going on here?"

It was a troubled Tyson, freshly arrived with Daichi, Kai and Ellivah. When she looked up to the bit-beast Kai could witness one of the most horrified faces he had ever seen before Ells tripped over the stairs and he caught her on reflex.

"I wanted to believe it was only a fluke… That it would be easy to defeat, but… That's just barely on Dusk's level," she said, without taking her eyes from the two tailed fox, while her composure slowly returned to normal.

"What?"

"How did they do that?" Daichi asked. Ignoring him and pushing herself away from Kai, she sat down next to Hilary and kept looking at the disk and the omnious Dark Beast above it.

"We need to do something."

"Hey, it's okay, Ells. Let's trust him. Kenny's out there giving his hardest and he's not doing half-bad," Tyson said.

"I'm sorry, but half-bad isn't nearly enough to best that," she answered. "A single beyblade won't do, no matter how good the player behind it is. He needs more power. At least a bit-beast of his own."

"He _has_ a bit-beast of his own," the laptop sitting on Hilary's legs said. "Give me over to Ells."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked after getiing Dizzi on her lap, closing all running programs.

"Of course I'm sure! About time I do it, too!"

"And does this thing have enough battery?" she said inputting orders on the command prompt

"I already checked! Wish me luck!"

As soon as she said that the monitor glowed strongly cream and shot a subtle beam that, after a tight curve, entered straight inside of Einstein.

Just like most people on the stadium, Kenny didn't seem to notice anything entering his beyblade, even though it was jumping further away from DarkWindash without his command.

"_Hey, Kenny, long time no see!"_

He jumped and looked back for the voice that had just talked to him, but it just laughed playfully

"_Calm down, it's just me, Dizzi."_

"Dizzi? What are you doing inside of my head?" he asked, turning back towards the stadium and jumping above another charge.

"_You know you just need to think to talk to me, right? You don't have to say anything aloud, people will think you're crazy. Not that's anything new. Anyway, I'm not inside your head, I'm inside Einstein's bit. We've known each other for quite a while, so I can talk to you just fine. You need energy to transfer a bit-beast, you know? We used your laptop, and its got like five more minutes to go, so why don't we get this over with fast?"_

"_How?"_

"_How? I'm a bit-beast, Kenny. What do bit-beasts do? I've always considered myself a pacifist, true, but mess with my Kenny when my webcam's watching, and I'll short circuit! Let's show him what my motherboard's capable of."_

"_You know you're not inside a computer anymore, right?"_

"_Do you really need to criticize my bad habits right now?"_

"_They're thoughts, I can't help it!"_

Deep inside, Kenny felt much more confident. Even if he couldn't summon her, Dizzi had just lightned him up in a way few others could. And he could summon her just fine. Between Tyson's descriptions and a feeling that came to him naturally it was almost impossible not to.

"Dizzi!"

He had never seen what she looked like. She was a great cream toad with a metallic underbelly and a mess of green wires meandering from the top of her head, and he loved her, just like the commentators, who couldn't believe there was a second unknown bit-beast coming into play that day, and the audience, who was just glad they had a great match to watch. With their faith restored, Hilary, Tyson and Daichi cheered on for Kenny as much as they could and, while Ells didn't say anything else, Kai noticed the raise on her eyebrows and the worry on her cold eyes. Turning back towards the disk, he couldn't agree more. Even though they were arguably the closest player-bit-beast combination of all the Bladebreakers, Kenny had never handled Dizzi on a beyblade and his foe was nothing to scoof at. The match was far from over.

On Kenny's command Dizzi leapt across the air and landed on DarkWindash's nose, while the green blade landed on top of Kurai's attack ring to quickly leap away. With its new strength, the orange beyblade lost its balance for a moment. Seeing the results Kenny had Dizzi attack the same way whenever it was possible, leaving no room for Kurai or DarkWindash to breathe. His face twisted more and more until it seemed to somewhat break, and the aura on his bit-beast thickened as it snarled at Dizzi. Rested on top of the laptop's keyboard, Ellivah's fists closed hard while the energy around the stadium rose to levels they had very rarely felt.

Next to the disk Kenny protected his head with his arms, feeling like he could get pushed back at any moment. He and Dizzi agreed on a final attack before things got worse, and concentrating all his might on her and his beyblade, they leapt towards their foes.

With the clash a dark light blinded the stadium, hiding the burst on the center of the disk that lifted a cloud of dust around it and the players. The public awaited paciently for the dust to lift and for the result to be revealed by the referee below, who looked into the dust for the beyblades.

When he found them he announced the victor with the same professional voice as with any other games.

"Victory goes to Tsukino."

The crowed erupted in applause for the great match.

Kenny dropped to his knees. In front of him, outside the beystadium, lied his Einstein, completely in pieces. He could fix it, but the bit was smashed, and that was something he would never be able to fix.

"Dizzi…"

Meanwhile Ellivah suddenly shut the monitor of the laptop and rushed down the stands, carrying it under her arm. The group followed her to give their friend support, even though Hilary took a while longer than the others, scared of jumping from such a height to the stage.

"Dizzi…" Kenny whispered when he felt someone crouch next to him. "She's gone…"

"She's fine," Ellivah said, opening the laptop and giving it to him. "She's smart. Look."

"Hey, Kenny, sorry about that," said the robotic voice from inside the computer. She sounded tired, but unharmed.

"Dizzi!"

"How'd you get back in there?" Daichi asked, pointing at the laptop.

"I felt the bit break and I transferred myself to the laptop with the energy I had left. Had to borrow some of yours, Kenny," she answered.

"Oh, Dizzi!" he whimpered, hugging the laptop. "I'm so glad you're okay! Don't you do that to me ever again!"

"Ouch, Kenny, you're messing with my wires!"

"I don't care!"

Everyone ended up getting him up and taking him to a place where his strange, embarrassing behaviour couldn't be seen by a large audience. When Tyson looked back at the place where that Kurai was standing during the match, he was nowhere to be seen.

Inside the tower C cafeteria, Kenny plugged in the laptop to charge it, while repairs were going at the stadium. With Hilary's help he encouraged Tyson and Daichi to head for their towers for their semi-final match. Kai would go with Tyson, Ells would go with Daichi and Hilary would stay with Kenny until he was feeling better and his laptop was somewhat charged, and until the repairs were complete for her own match.

"Record Hilary's match," Ellivah whispered to Kenny as Daichi and Tyson shot ahead, claiming each would have a better match than the other. "We need to prepare her for tomorrow after this round."

"Got it."

With half-an-hour worth of battery, repairs on tower C were completed and Hilary and Kenny headed there. They split up by the gate and he headed for the stands while she, Tyson and Daichi took their respective positions.

Her opponent would be a cute little boy she'd trade any day over Daichi, but the praise the commentators gave him made her stay alert. In turn, Daichi would play against a boy who hadn't faced any strong players up until that round, while Tyson would fight the enigmatic and fierce girl that had constantly shouted during Kenny's match against Fábio. Psiché was the daughter of a Portuguese couple who had immigrated to Japan after travelling around the world. The commentators claimed her battle style was as sharp as her tongue and wielded a bit-beast her family found in the Amazon jungle called Sharfiro.

When countdown ended, all six beyblades together with four others took it to the stadium.

Altought he could've finished his match the same way as his bet with Tyson, Daichi preferred having a close game and mashed violently against his foe. He quickly came to the conclusion that luck had been the only thing behind that player, and defeated him without breaking a sweat. Still hoping to see the end of Tyson's match, he met Ellivah by his gate and both dashed for tower A.

Rising from the stadium was Dragoon and a huge blue horse with a red horn on the top of its head and flames on its neck and hooves. It turned back to kick the blue dragon and charged at him with majesty and power. Psiché was talented and managed to keep up with their speed without too much trouble.

"_This girl is far more interesting than I first thought."_

"_I just think she wants to murder me for some reason."_

For the second time that day they were driven into utilizing their tornado but, unlike Prongs, Sharfiro didn't seem too confortable on the air as its beyblade was lifted out of control. She grit her teeth, but Psiché was far from giving up.

"Mystic fire!"

From her beyblade a flame was born, enveloping the entire tornado and squeezing it as it consumed the winds that shaped it. Falling through to the ground both beyblades clashed continuously while the crowd applaueded.

"_It's just like fighting a feisty Dranzer."_

"_Except this one could tear our heads off if we look at her funny."_

"_We will have to expand your weakness to the entire female gender, Tyson."_

"_Hilary's not my weakness, she doesn't even play!"_

"_Precisely."_

Both beyblades landed on the stadium as the last of the flames and the winds dissipated, spinning with the same energy as if they had just been cast. Both him and the bit-beast smirked. Their matches were being intense and incredibly interesting, and those were the most fun.

"_I've never really needed my head. Let's get them!"_

"_Wisest words I have heard you say."_

Hilary was in trouble. Her opponent was good enough to take advantage of her beyblade's flaws, especially her drifting problem. When she wished for a challenging match they were nowhere to be seen, but now that she couldn't afford to lose came a boy who actually knew what he was doing. Someone was having a blast laughing at her expense.

In spite of everything her beyblade managed to hang fast, spinning with almost the same steam as when it was launched. His grey beyblade was just as fast as hers, not too powerful to the point of draining hers dangerously, but she couldn't get away from him.

She needed to come up with a plan better than his before he got the upper hand.

Just like them, Psiché wasn't afraid to attack. Altough she got carried away sometimes and her assault became unfocused, she quickly regained control in time to escape Tyson's more dangerous moves. Other than Mariah, Mariam or the recent Ellivah, that was one of the few girls that had actually managed to impress him, but all of them were better than her, and he was the best of them all. He was the World Champion. Having a blast or not, he had a team to run and needed to end the fight.

"_How do you think they'll handle our full strength, Dragoon?"_

"_Not too well."_

They dodged a charge from Sharfiro and dashed behind her. Caught by surprise Psiché couldn't get the beyblade to move away and instead met their charge, standing firm against their wrestilng in the center of the stadium.

As soon as Sharfiro wobbled just slightly Dragoon took the advantage and tossed it into the air. With a full sommersault it landed with the attack ring on the disk, cutting it deep until it rebounded and landed on its base without proper balance on one of the beystadium's corners. Without giving it time to recover, Dragoon followed and hit it again, tossing it outside.

Altough her beyblade was still spinning, the rules stated the clear winner.

"Victory goes to Granger," the referee said while the bit-beasts disappeared and Psiché gnawed at her thumb. In a flash she had collected her beyblade and rushed towards Tyson with a terribly serious posture.

"Hey, you!"

Her loud, scary voice had him believe he was a goner, but when she reached him she merely smiled and held our her hand for him to shake.

"Nice game," she said with a sigh. "Man, you sure got me back there. No wonder you're the champ. Good luck on the finals."

"Huh, thanks," he managed to said, still in bit of a shock, shaking her hand.

Losing there against some no name was a luxury Hilary couldn't affort to have, but the chance of staying by the semis was definitely there. Knowing her flaws and bad habits her opponent already expected them and fully took advantage of them, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was no way to avoid making those mistakes with the amount of training she had and the beyblade she was given.

"_Wait a minute. I can use this to my advantage."_

Suddenly her white blade skidded dangerously, and Hilary's face changed into something deeply concerned.

"What's going on with Hilary, Brad? Her beyblade is going downtown!"

"I don't know, A. J., but this might just finish the match."

In a blink of an eye, just before her foe hit her, Hilary's face switched again and her beyblade regained all balance. It dodged the attack and then attacked him fiercly from behind.

"Devious move!" Brad Best said while the crowd applauded her.

"She got all of us off guard, and now Lelouch's about to pay."

She couldn't let go of him. She couldn't let him recover or even breathe. She hit him again and again like a swarm of wasps, from one side and then the other and then another, much like Ells had shown her against Mr. Tate's test robot, draining his beyblade from its spin with every strike.

Finally, when it couldn't regain its balance in sufficient time, she used the disk as a ramp to gain enough speed to toss it out, where it stopped just by the referee's feet.

"Victory goes to Tachibana."

The boy shook her hand complimenting her capacity to decieve the entire stadium, something Kenny also pointed out when she met him by the gate.

They turned to leave the tower, but Tyson and the rest of them were entering the place and noticing them too.

"You were watching the game on tower C? If you had the time why didn't you go watch my game?" Tyson asked a bit disappointed.

Too relived because of her victory, Hilary kept quiet while Kenny answered him.

"I wanted to see who's playing against Kurai, to see if there's a chance of him not entering the team. Hilary just wanted to keep me company."

"Oh, really? Who's going to play against him, then?"

"A new player who's quite the strategist, but she doesn't have a bit-beast."

"Its gonna pretty hard for her to win against that psycho if _that_ happened to you and Dizzi," he said, raising an eyebrow. Suddenly, the weight on Hilary's shoulders turned heavier than ever and her ephemeral joy vanished under a blanket of numbness.

"Yeah, I don't think she'll make it," she said. "I don't think she'll last a minute against him."

Her depressed stare at the floor caught Tyson off guard. It was a kind of sadness he had never seen in her. Was she that worried they'd have to deal with Kurai on the team?

"Don't worry, Hilary," he said, putting a hand over her shoulder. She looked back up at him and he continued. "Even if that psycho gets on the team, Ells and I will kick his ass so hard he won't even think about messing with us again."

"Me too! No one gets away with doing that to our Chief!" Daichi shouted with his fist closed, ready for revenge. She couldn't help but smile at them, but she was the one who would give Kurai his spot on the team, with her friends, without being able to do anything against it. How could she ever defeat him when Kenny and Dizzi had failed?

"I've heard she's got a lot of spunk," Kai said. "I think she'll be alright."

"I'll trust this new girl, too," Ellivah said. "I believe she can win. I want to belive in that possibility."

When she turned to Ells and she nodded back at her, Hilary's face lightned with their faith on her capabilities.

"Hey, isn't that her?" someone said from a group emerging from tower C.

"Yeah, yeah, that's her. She's been pretty good, she's been winning all of her matches."

"Do you think she'll win the final? The other guy is scary good! Did you see how he beat the other guy in glasses?"

"I want her to win, I don't like that guy one bit."

"But he's got a bit-beast!"

"Maybe she has a hidden bit-beast of her own,"

"What was that all about?" Tyson asked while the group advanced too far for them to keep listeing to them.

"Oh, that was…"

"Ells, obviously," Kenny said when he realized Hilary was struggling to answer.

"But she has a bit-beast," Daichi said.

"I didn't call for Dusk yet, however," she answered. "It does fit me, but I'm not sure I appreciate the fans."

"You'll get used to it soon enough, the free stuff makes up for the attention," Tyson said, while Hilary took a deep breath and thanked her and Kenny on the back of her mind for covering her.

"Hmm. If you'll allow me, I need Hilary and Kenny's help for an errand. We'll all return by dinner," she said, ignoring his remark.

"Oh, sure, but why do you need them?" Tyson asked. He had tried to ask her where she went all of a sudden during lunch break, but when she turned back and looked at him with the same expression as she had just before punching him asleep, he didn't think of trying again.

"That's not your problem, I'm afraid. Consider it payback for being a nuisance to me and Kai before."

When a mischevious smirk appeared on her lips Tyson was left speechless. Had she just made a joke?

"We'll be back as soon as we can. Daichi, keep watch over Tyson, please."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Chapter 7 – _"Tension"_

In one hour Hilary progressed well, but not well enough on her demanding eyes. It was the time it took for her to learn the basics of controlling Kenny's new beyblade. It was much faster than her old one thanks to its flippers and low weight, concentrated on the center of the beyblade to give it much better grip. Not used to being so fast and thinking that she had to turn much too late, Hilary kept crashing into all sorts of junk.

Something inside of her still refused to believe she could defeat Kurai and his DarkWindash, but everyone was giving their all for the slots on the team, and Kenny, Ells and Kai had been nothing but supportive of her, even when all she wanted was to quit. Hilary couldn't let them down. She couldn't give up until she had given her all, and lost proudly or somehow won.

Once she was capable of drawing simple curves and sliding forward without losing control, she kept training her manouvers and closing the curves with the help of a couple of obstacles gathered around the house, among observing shadows and the occasional meow of a lost cat.

By dinner she was capable of swerving around the path Kenny had prepared for her. However, they had to stop and head for Tyson's place to eat with the rest of them like Ellivah had promised.

Unexpectedly, Tyson showed his huge relief for Hilary not being there to cook their dinner, opening her rage.

"Oh, by the way, what were the three of you up to?" he asked, ignoring the angry stare across the table.

"You're complaining about my food and you still want me to tell you that? Keep dreaming!" she shouted back, making him raise his hands.

"Damn, Hilary, it's just constructive criticism," he said. Then, noticing the scratches on her face and the faded dirt stain on her collar he raised an eyebrow. "You're looking nice, did Ells make you crawl on the ground?"

"No! It's none of your goddamn business."

With the freshly done breaded chicked breast in front of her, Hilary lunged into the food with an appetite to rival his, stunning Tyson for a second before he copied her. In fifteen minutes she was done, her dishes were washed, and she was leaving the house back to their training spot to keep working on controlling her beyblade. Some time later Kai, Ells and Kenny joined her to keep her company and give her some more advice. They set out a series of obstacle courses for her to complete and watched her fail again and again until she finally succeeded. When Kenny started yawning Kai left with him so they could get some sleep, while Hilary and Ellivah refused to leave until she was as good as she needed to be.

Exercicies became progressively harder and she slowly crept towards the sort of manouvers she had seen all of the team do on multiple occasions, sometimes envolving movements through the air that had to be completed with perfect precision and skill to avoid landing upside down or outside the disk. She also completed several laps around the building while Ellivah sat by the stairs to time her, and improved the strength and precision of her launch so her beyblade would land where she wanted it to with as much spin as possible, adjusting her ground movement with every new boost of speed.

When night was high Hilary demanded Ells to go get some rest for her own match the next day, leaving some more exercicies for her to work on during the rest of the time available to her. She refused at first, but Hilary's persistence eventually got the best of her and, wishing her good luck, Ellivah left her by herself.

Instead of taking the chance to do things slowly, Hilary kept her rhythm high and tried to escalate it as much as she could. There was no stopping after coming so far. She wouldn't be the girl on the stands for much longer. From that point forward she was a beyblade player and not even Tyson could deny it.

Tyson…

What would he say when he found out that she had been practicing in secret during all that time? All of the scenarios that played on her mind were unfavourable to her.

More than anything, she only wanted his approval…

As soon as she conjured that thought, Hilary shook her head wildly to exorcise it. Why the hell did she need his approval? He wasn't the only blader in the world and many others had a much better personality. They were more handsome, too.

And now she was catologing boys by their looks! What was wrong with her?

The only possible explanation was sleep deprivation, but she needed to get over it, and lock away that sort of pondering until her match was over.

With dawn came Kai, Kenny and Ells, leaving Daichi and Tyson snoring on the dojo and grampa Granger in his morning kendo training. They brought breakfast for everyone, inlcuing coffee and caffeine soda. After Hilary chomped through most of the food, all of the coffee and half a bottle of soda, she played against Ellivah, holding her ground for by far the longest time she had ever mustered before Dusk got the better of her and her beyblade ended up on her hands.

"That was incredible, Hilary!" Kenny said while Dusk jumped for Ells's open hand. "Your improvement since last night's insane!"

"We just had to redo all the charts three times. Are you trying to exaust us too?" Dizzi said in a mocking tone.

"Its definitely good, but it could be better," Kai said. "You're still making mistakes."

"But we have no time to perfect your battle style," Ellivah said. "You should come with us to Tyson's place. You need to lie down and sleep for a couple of hours before your match."

Hilary vigorously shook her head. "Thanks guys, but I need to be in the best shape I can for later. I'll grind out those flaws."

"It's not something that'll disappear in a couple of hours," Kai insisted.

"It doesn't matter. I can't sleep now, I'm too nervous and this is too important. More than being on the team with you guys, I don't want that psycho to play with you. I'd rather stay and keep working."

Suddenly Ellivah stared at Hilary so seriously that she almost jumped from fright. Ells approached her and, looking Hilary dead in the eye, put a hand over her hidden medallion, as if she had always known it was there.

"I hope you can find her in time."

Just as fast as she had stared her down, Ells turned away and signalled the boys to follow her, saying she'd bring lunch later. Confused and wondering about the meaning of her words, the Kenny and Kai left Hilary alone to glance at her medallion and its plummed dragon, thinking about it momentarily before shrugging it off and keep practicing.

All matches for the day would be held on tower A, the biggest of them, one after the other. The matches had been organized according to the original order, meaning Tyson would be first and Ells would be last. She played against Kai on Kenny's request in order to gather data and build better beyblades for them. The way Dusk always slipped away from Dranzer's grasp while looking for the perfect chance to strike and the beyblades mashed viciously was truly something to behold. When they were done, with a tactical draw, she sat by the porch and gazed at the sky while Kai checked the data with Kenny.

Their quiet peace was disturbed by a huge ruckus on the toilet. Tyson and Daichi were up and fighting about the tooth paste again, but their arguing ceased rapidly as soon as Daichi reminded Tyson he had won his bet, and thus was entitled to use it. Shortly afterwards they joined them, dressed and ready to practice.

"'Morning guys," Daichi said.

"Hey, where's Hilary?" Tyson said looking about. "She should be here by now."

"I don't know," Ellivah said with a bit of a sleepy voice. "But she'll show up sooner or later."

"If you say so," Tyson ended up answering.

"If I may ask, why are so interested on her whereabouts?" she asked. "You usually just insult her all the time."

"Interested? I'm not interested," he quickly answered. "I just think it's weird she didn't show up yet."

Maybe touching a nerve had been her intention all along, but her casual tone made it feel like she had just noticed the fact. Why not poke at him some more?

"But if you are that curious… Something tells me she's getting ready for her boyfriend."

"Getting ready for her boyfriend?" Tyson asked. "What do you mean? She's coming to watch the finals, right?"

"Oh, yes, she said she was, but she might be a bit late," Ells answered, hiding her amusement behind her neutral, unreadable face. Getting ready to play against Daichi, but listening to the whole exchange, Kai smirked, prompting Daichi to ask what was so funny, it didn't really matter what the old hag and the lunatic that was her boyfriend were doing. Kenny sticked to preparing Dizzi to gather Daichi's data, thinking Tyson growing up couldn't come fast enough.

From there on out Tyson stopped talking about Hilary, merely focusing on last minute practice with the rest of the boys while Ells napped, leaning on one of the pillars that held the top of the porch above her head.

Since there was no Hilary there to reprimand them, Tyson and Daichi ate unlike ever before during lunch.

"Thank God your matches are going to be the first," Kenny said, watching them aggressively munch their fries. "At least you'll play before the excess kicks in."

"Excess of what? Food?" Tyson wondered with a mouthful of rice. "Take my word for it, Boss. There's no such concept as excess of food."

"Totally agree!" Daichi said after swallowing another piece of beef.

"Whatever you say," Kenny sighed. There was no point in trying to turn their heads around that.

Meanwhile Ellivah put away some of the lunch with another bottle of soda on a plastic bag and, excusing herself, left Tyson's place and rushed to the burnt house.

It didn't surprise her to see Hilary was still there, standing and working on difficult manuvers. She shouldn't have pushed herself that far, and needed to take a break badly, but Ellivah had to admit her new friend had a lot of spirit. She hadn't even notice her presence, focused on zigzagging across a couple of loose bricks and jumping over twigs she had gathered on the garden, until she suddenly shouted from frustration.

"Dammit! Now's not the time to be thinking about this! I'll slap that jerk for slipping into my head like this!"

Ellivah didn't immediately understand what she meant, but all of Hilary's attention had just evaporated and her beyblade tripped over one of the twigs, hitting a tree and landing upside down by its trunk.

Only then did she look at the garden's entrance and see Ells.

"Lunch," she said, lifting the bag she carried.

"Oh. Thanks."

While she ate vigorously, Ells noticed that all of the soda bottles she and the boys had brought for her were empty. Abusing caffeine wasn't the smartest idea, but it had been put to good use. Several beyblade marks were well visible on the floor, overlapping each other over the trees and a bit on the walls, and Hilary herself was torn to shreds, dusty and covered in scratches.

"You really should rest, I'm afraid," Ellivah said.

"No way," Hilary quickly answered, putting down the new bottle of soda, almost half-way drank. "I'm way to nervous to stop. And if I actually fall asleep, I might just miss the match. No, I'd rather practice."

"Alright. But you have to be there on time for the game, then," she answered with a sigh. Then she continued, out of curiosity. "Hilary, if I may ask, who's the jerk who's slipping into your head?"

"Oh! Huh, well, hmm… I-It's no one important."

Her clumsiness only made Ellivah more curious, but she refrained from asking more. It had to be Tyson.

As soon as Hilary finished everything Ellivah had brought for her, she got up and focused on her practice again, while her friend picked up all the trash around the unkept garden and left for Tyson's place, letting the quiet shadows watch over the trainee.

They would cut it pretty close, but Tyson insisted on taking his time before leaving for the finals. Deep down, without admitting it to anyone, he hoped Hilary would come with them, but had to give up when the clock struck the last minute. All four players and the chosen Japanese technician left their base of operations with grampa Granger, who wanted to know who'd make it into the five player slots.

Tyson had to run for his gate while everyone took their seats on the stands, leaving a spare for Hilary when she arrived. There was a minute left before the finals officially began, just enough time for him to cast away any concerns he still had about their old manager, gazing determinantly at the beystadium visible from his gate, along with a portion of the crowd and the spotlights high above.

"Good afternoon, Japan!" A. J.'s voice echoed on the stage and the stands, prompting the crowd into applauding excitedly. "Looks like everyone is dying to know first hand just who is going to be in our team, right Brad?"

"That's right, A. J. No one expected a pavilion as big as this one could fill so much, so fast, but beyblade fans just can't get enough," answered Brad Best. "Especially because our first participant of the finals is none other than Tyson Granger, the defending World Champion. Just like in previous years, Tyson didn't let anyone down and he's hungry for more."

"Together with his bit-beast, Dragoon, they are nothing short of unstoppable. He's truly an intimidating opponent."

While they both talked about him, the screens placed above the beystadium showed how absent he had been during his first match, the hurricane they raised during the game against Harry and Prongs, and him shaking hands with a smiling Psiché.

"Facing him will be Ikeuchi Jun, who has no bit-beast of his own but climbed beautifully to this final," A.J. said, letting the boy with thick glasses and large clothes step onto the stage. Whether he had climbed beautifully or dragged himself on the mud, that was a final and Tyson couldn't take it lightly.

One last time, he looked up to the stands, easily finding the group, but not Hilary. She didn't make it. She wasn't there again. She had missed all of his matches.

Maybe he just had to face the facts. Hilary no longer cared about him or his team. Accepting that, it was easier for him to stop thinking about it and focus on the last fight ahead of him. Worlds were more important than some stupid girl.

Once the commentators were done, the referee advanced and began counting down with the crowd's help.

"Let it Rip!" echoed loudly on the stadium and the two beyblades were cast in a shower of clapping and screaming.

Tyson went immediately on the offensive. Jun withstood his attack incredibly well and charged back, but Dragoon dodged with little effort. He was chased around the stadium by Jun's turquoise beyblade, until Tyson had Dragoon turn around abruptly and meet him like he wanted to. His opponent didn't take the hit too well that time and was forced back. Dragoon followed it for another attack, but Jun managed to get away, even with an unbalanced bey. When he regained control Jun used the ramp to attack Tyson again, but he was prepared and had Dragoon do something similar, meeting in the center of the disk and tossing his foe outside.

"Victoty goes to Granger," the referee said with the help of his loud microphone above the roars and chants to his name. It had ended much faster than he wanted to, but a win was a win and Tyson couldn't complain about that. After waving to his fans and complimenting his opponent he left for his gate, finding Daichi already at the ready for his turn. He wished him luck and called him a punk and, leaving Daichi stomping the floor and yelling at him, headed for the stands to sit with the two mumbling statues and his genius tech.

"Together again, Chief," he said, raising a palm.

"You bet. Bladebreakers again," he answered, giving him the high-five.

"And Bladebreaks forever," Dizzi said.

As Tyson sat down next to Kenny, he noticed the two empty seats next to Ellivah and his good mood withered away. One of them was Daichi's, but even if he wanted to tell Ells it was pointless to keep a seat for Hilary he decided against it. She was probably just going to ignore him again.

"And now for the next battle, the finalist of tower B! First off he have Shanna Tohshiki, a new face on the sport who showed us some very promising matches."

"She prefers to use raw strength, and her bit-beast, Ashpath, is very appropriate for just that, trampling everything that comes their way."

A red-haired girl, who had beaten Rigel and Olyx during the semi-finals with a fire stallion, rose to the stage. Nothing about her intimidated Daichi too much, not even the fierce gaze she handed him when he climbed up the stage. Well, maybe that intimidated him a little, but it wasn't something he'd easily admit.

"Facing her we have Daichi Sumeragi, also a member of the BBA Revolution who won the last championship."

"His Strata Dragoon is as scary and powerful as ever. We might need repairs on the stadium after these two are done."

Scary red eyes or not, he knew he'd have a good time just like against Clavus when he fit Strata Dragoon on his beyblade, and he was looking forward to it. Kenny's data recording program kicked in, the countdown was processed, and the whole crowd applauded again for the second match of the day. Other than a girl with lilac hair, who watched the beyblades clashing and the bit-beasts being summoned with her neutral expression, even though she was thrilled with their clashes and their energy, vibrating around the stadium like a playful breeze.

No matter how excited she felt, even though she was learning how to behave on the stands with the boys, she still didn't show it. She wasn't sure Tyson and Daichi's reactions or Kai's nods of approval when something truly incredibly happened down below were the most appropriate for her to take. She had never socialized too much with other people, besides her parents, the scientists who used her, and a hazy boy on a snowy Russian night. Although her father had taught her how to play, enjoy herself and laugh, those were such distant and dear memories to her she felt chasing them would break them apart.

Even though she felt generally insecure, unsure of what do to or how to react most of the time, hiding all of it under an iron-clad expression, she would glady accept all of her doubts if that was the price to pay for finally being free.

The start of the battle had been interesting to watch, but she quickly remembered something else, more important than Daichi's victory, and sent another text message with Kenny's mobile phone. Hilary was still gone and hadn't answered to any of her previous attempts to reach her. She glanced at the disk where the bulky Strata Dragoon was charging against Ashpath, who stood its ground with its hooves and tried to push him back, without success. Daichi was jumping and shouting from the top of his lungs, making Ellivah believe he was talking to Strata Dragoon just like she talked to Dusk during a match, but with her mouth shut and not nearly as much energy. It was endearing, but it didn't calm her down. It was bad enough knowing Hilary still hadn't been able to find her, but she could not afford to miss that match. Not after all the work she had put into it.

Although she didn't do anything about it, Ellivah noticed Tyson was just as restless as her, concealing it behind his ceassless support for Daichi, but probably for a different reason.

It was only when Ellivah jumped from her seat, deciding to try and convince the staff to swap her match with Hilary's and then drag her there during Kai's that the phone on her hands shook. Relief manifested in an unconscious sigh when she quickly read Hilary's answer, saying she was just entering the venue.

Saying she had to use the restroom, Ellivah left for the tower's entrance to meet with her. She couldn't contain an exclamation when she saw her more worned out than a poor shoe and panting heavily, but standing there as if they were nothing but a minor setback.

"You're late," Ellivah managed to say.

"I… I'm sorry," she managed said. "Cell phone was… set on silence."

She had clearly ran all the way there.

Shaking her head, Ellivah took Hilary's hand and guided her towards the gate, where Daichi would also be coming out from. Both of them could more of less follow the end of the match, as the fire horse was pushed back by the earth dragon.

"Ells, I don't think I'll make it," Hilary admitted. "I'm gonna lose for sure."

"I believe in you," she answered grabbing her by her shoulders. "Just give it your all, like the rest of us. You did it during the whole night, you just need to do it for a couple more minutes."

Taking a deep breath on her request, Hilary felt the sudden panic attack waning a bit. A shower of applause had them both look back at the stadium, and the commentators confirmed Daichi's victory. Asking if she was ok, and getting a nod back, Ellivah let go of Hilary's shoulders and both waited for Daichi to come towards them, dashing down the steps of the stage and running out the exit, clearly pleased with his match and eager for more.

He stopped dead on his tracks when he saw both of them.

"What are you doing here? What is she doing here?" he asked pointing at Hilary and switching glances between the two of them. "Shouldn't she be up on the stands fighting Tyson?"

"Let's go, Daichi, Hilary needs to focus," Ellivah said pushing him outside the gate.

"You don't mean she's the one fighting Kurai, right?!"

"Now," she answered with a voice that allowed no disobeying. However, she didn't stop him from accelerating towards the stairs for the stands, following him instead after waving Hilary once last time.

Up on their seats, Tyson and Kai listened closely to Kurai's introduction while Kenny looked away, unable to see himself lose again on the giant screens.

"You won't believe this, Tyson!" Daichi shouted as he raced down the stairs and broke right next to them, with Ellivah close behind.

"Shut up, I wanna see who's facing Kurai."

"It's Hilary! Hilary's the one playing against him!"

"WHAT?"

He turned back towards the stage and lunged forward so abruptely that the person sitting in front of him shouted at him.

"And on the other side we have a participant that exceeded all exepections," A. J. was saying. "But to nab a victory this time she needs to pull quite the rabbit from the hat."

"Hilary Tachibana coming from the West gate!"

Her heart beat so fast it felt like it was going to explode. It was her most important game yet, and Tyson would be watching. Nervous, wishing to be able to find a hole to hide, and terrified of her foe, she still advanced for the stage, blinded by the white spotlights.

Chapter 8 – _"Breaking Light!"_

The noise was deafning. Her adepts had grown even more in number and she wasn't sure if she should be happy about it or not.

As her eyes adjusted to the spotlights, Kurai's image in front of her became clear, waiting for her on the other side of the beystadium with the smile of a madman. Her nerves got to her as every bit of her body yearned to turn away, but Hilary kept being the captain of her soul, and climbed the stairs up the stage. Feeling her cheeks warming, she could tell all the heads turned her way like weapon's aims, but she managed to avoid looking to the stands. The group was sitting there somewhere, and Tyson was with them. Her heart would burst if she crossed eyes with him.

"What's _she_ doing there?" Tyson shouted. "She can't play beyblade!"

"Apparently she can," Daichi answered.

"But how?" he insisted, turning towards him. "Did you teach her?"

"Don't look at me, I have no idea how could an old hag learn to play."

"Kai and I taught her," Ellivah answered in her neutral voice, making it sound it the most ordinary thing in the world.

"What?"

"But her boyfriend-"

"There was never a boyfriend," Kai said, cutting him off. "You were the one who came up with that idea. She just used it as an excuse."

"Did you know about it too, Chief? No way, that's not fair, I wanted to know about it, too!" Daichi shouted when Kenny nodded.

"She didn't want you to know because she thought you'd just tell Tyson the minute you found out about it, I'm afraid," Ellivah said, turning to Tyson afterwards. "She didn't want you to mock her about it."

The pieces on the puzzle about Hilary and her boyfriend snapped into place by themselves.

"She practiced all night yesterday for this match, and she's evolved quite a bit, but that might not be enough…" she continued.

"She practiced all night to play against Kurai?" Daichi repeated, outraged that she was allowed that privilege but he wasn't.

"Up until you saw her back on the gate," she answered, pointing with her head towards Hilary, already positioned herself to start the game. Her clothes were stained with earth and dust and a drop of blood where the countless cuts went a bit too deep on her skin. Her dishevelled hair partially hid the dark circles strongly marked under her eyes and her tired posture, but she didn't even seem aware of it, worried about some other transient thoughts.

Although Tyson hated beyond words the fact that he had chased a sham of his own design, he was somehow relieved for it. Hilary was closer to them than ever, she had never broken away like he believed her to. And now, just below the stands, she was fighting for a spot on the national team alongside him, trying to kick a dangerous foe away from them.

Letting the anxiety get the best of him, he watched as the referee below began countdown. Even though he didn't fully understand why he hadn't been allowed to know that she had been playing beyblade all that time, he would support her 120% during that match, and let her get a piece of himself later.

In turn, Hilary still refused to face the stands, juggling her gaze between the referee, her beyblade, the disk, and Kurai, who looked back and smiled like she was a morning snack. She knew Tyson was probably shouting somewhere, irritated and surprised.

"Let it Rip!"

Using all of her strength, Hilary launched her beyblade towards the disk, taking care that Kurai didn't catch her middair and tear off parts of it. She landed, harmless, first and he landed right afterwards, getting instantly assaulted by her. As she caught him by surprise she tightened her assault, hoping she could defeat him before he knew what hit him and summoned his DarkWindash.

However, the rage of being beaten by a girl just after getting driven into a corner by a nerd the previous day, together with his instability, was all Kurai needed to bring it out of his beyblade, enveloped in dark aura and heavy like a terrible secret.

"Hilary must be kicking some ass for Tsukino to show us his bit-beast this soon!"

"Especially since last match he only showed his face much later on!"

Their words and the applause didn't get through to Hilary. The presence of the Dark Beast robbed almost all of her attention, a sense of impeding danger much stronger and thicker than she had experienced on the stands, or against Rigel and Mitch. But she didn't let it get into her. There was too much at stake for her to lose that game and she was far from showing her worth.

Kurai's beyblade regained power, but Hilary's new beyblade and her practice payed off, and she managed to hold her ground and even push them back. However, it wasn't enough. She didn't have a bit-beast of her own and the dark aura wasn't nearly as strong as when Dizzi attacked them last. Her beyblade ending up broken in as many pieces as Einstein was a strong possibility.

Then Hilary stopped being able to riposte. It was a distant feeling, almost like it wasn't even hers, but her fatigue was slowly taking hold of her body, and her mind was starting to give in. That was a match she couldn't afford to lose. However, she was losing without being able to do anything against it. The noise and the sounds from the crowd and from the voices on the speakers didn't let her think straight. Maybe she was more tired than she thought she was. Maybe she should just sleep.

But a voice rose above all others.

"Listen up, Hilary! You'd better win this damn game or I won't leave you alone a single day, I'll mock you about this game for the rest of your life!"

Was that Tyson?

She turned her head towards the stands and saw him, leaning on the railing at the end of the stairs and yelling as loud as he could.

"After you hid the fact that you've been playing this whole time from me, you'd better win, or I'll never talk to you again!"

He was cheering for her… In his own, strange way, but he actually was.

"You're an idiot! How are you gonna mock me for the rest of my life if you won't talk to me?" she shouted back, feeling a slight weight leave her shoulders.

"I have no idea, but I'll come up with something!" Then his face changed in the blink of an eye and he pointed at the disk. "Watch out for that bey!"

Following his cue, Hilary turned back towards the stadium and dodged a dangerous charge from DarkWindash at the last possible second. Tyson never gave up, no matter how hard the match was. How could she, being more stubborn than him? For him it never was a matter of "can't lose", it was always "won't lose". She had to play the same way.

Filled with determination, she attacked hard and strong, managing to gain even footing with Kurai and his DarkBeast. Unhappy with the new flow of the match, he had another insanity flip, just like with Kenny, and the aura around DarkWindash thickened, threatning to push Hilary back into a wall with its strength. And yet Hilary refused to give in to her fear or his power. Sparks flew from the beyblades as they repeteadly clashed, as some other feeling seeped into her skin, being ignored in favour of match, until she glanced up at the DarkBeast and realized it.

Hiding behind the power of the dark aura, but still a part of it, was a deep sorrow and a strong sentiment of betrayal. Windash, the bit-beast, trapped under the form of DarkWindash, the Dark Beast. And it was in pain, just like Rigel had said about his Olyx, physical pain that Kurai couldn't care less about because he was no longer linked as a player to his bit-beast. All he thought about was the Dark Power and how easily it granted him wins.

But Hilary could feel Windash's pain instead of Kurai, and was outraged that he couldn't or didn't care about it. She had to help it and force the psycho to see the wrong in his way, and to do that she also needed to win. Something on the back of her mind kept teeling her such a task would be impossible for someone like her. She might have to lose that match just for the chance of getting Kurai to listen to her, and even then it was unlikely he did.

Roars and whines from the Dark Beast were suddenly filled with pain, getting worse and worse as the seconds ticked and the match progressed, and Hilary's heart tightened as she heard them. Her mind insisted, as another voice, that there was no way she would accomplish it without a plan and demanded one from her.

"_I have no idea, but I'm not losing, I have to do something to save that bit-beast, and I will do it!"_

"_Oh, that's what I wanted to hear."_

Even though she looked about for the clear voice who had just answered to her thought, she quickly realized it was all on her head, a separate being who had churned her out with pessimism. When she looked down her medallion was shinning through her clothes, and with a beam of light a dragon was formed before her. White, pink and light blue scales that glowed like crystals, a mane of silver feathers, a pair of plummed sky-blue wings and a long tail like a single pink feather.

It was just like her dream.

With a soft roar, her wings turned to a glowing fog and rushed for Hilary's hands, taking the shape of a bow and a single arrow.

"_Shoot!"_

Not one to against a dragon's wishes, Hilary took aim at the twin-tailed fox and fired her arrow of light. It pierced the DarkBeast through and, following its trajectory, the dragon turned to light and pursued it, crashing with Windash just as her beyblade whammed Kurai's with blinding speed. The explosion of light that followed blinded the entire stadium.

"Beeaking light…" Hilary whispered. It was the name of that attack. Somehow, she just knew it was.

When the stadium darkned, the dragon had taken its orginal form and the DarkBeast was no more, being replaced by an orange and brown Windash. Without containing her wonder, Hilary glanced at Kurai and rage came to her again as she noticed he looked at his bit-beast with anger. Windash was still loyal to him, but only barely and he didn't care. He had just lost his power, and stared Hilary down with the eyes of a murderer. Unphased and ready to finish the match, hurting the bit-beast as least as possible, Hilary had her beyblade clash against Kurai's one last time, throwing it out the stadium where it stopped, just below the spot where Tyson had watched the whole thing with his jaw on the floor.

"Victory goes to Tachibana."

She wanted to turn and see Tyson's face, but something else stopped her, turning her joy into shock. Kurai had just picked up his beyblade and stared at it, gritting his teeth. Without warning, he threw it on the floor and raised a boot to crush it.

Also without warning, and without thinking, Hilary threw herself forward towards the orange beyblade while her white one leapt from the disk. It hit Kurai's head, stopping him from putting down his boot and Hilary took hold of Windash, sliding on the floor from the impact. Her beyblade landed next to her head, as if checking if she was ok, before she got up with a grunt and faced Kurai with just as much madness as him, feeling the connection between him and Windash slowly breaking apart.

"Why were you going to destroy your beyblade?" she asked.

"I don't need a trinket that can't win games," he spat. His voice was just as unpleasant as she believed it to be.

"You were really going to destroy your companion because of one defeat?"

"Companion? A beyblade's just a tool. If it's not working then it's useless."

"A beyblade isn't just a tool! Especially if it has a bit-beast inside of it! Bit-beasts are precious friends that give you strength to go on! Not a bit on a heartless spinning top!"

"Strenght to go on? What strength? That thing's only been useless to me."

"Because you don't trust him and you don't care about him. If you had watched that guy crossing all the impossible and unimaginable obstacles together with his bit-beast, you'd know," she said, pointing at Tyson, without taking her eyes off Kurai. "Even if they were about to lose they kept going until they won, together as team. If you can't see that, then you should've never gotten this bit-beast."

"Fine, take it. I don't want it, I can always find a better one."

As he left the stage, without looking back once, the link between him and Windash shattered, leaving it alone and lonely. Swearing she would find a good partner for the bit-beast, Hilary picked up her immobilized beyblade and checked its bit. She had actually done it. With her own bit-beast.

Dawn.

Taking a deep breath, she pocketed both beys and left the stage, but when she finished climbing down the stairs to go for the stands, Hilary's legs stopped moving. Her fatigue had finally caught up to her.

"That was incredible!" shouted Daichi's voice from afar. She lifted her head and distinguished him ahead of her, with what appeared to be a huge smile. "Even for an old hag like you."

"Who are you calling an old hag," she answered, letting her voice out much weaker than she wanted it to be. Daichi seemed to be more scared than usual with her reaction.

"You found her, just in time," Ellivah said, entering her line of sight.

"Did you know about Dawn, Ells? From the start?" Hilary asked.

"Yes."

"It's amazing, I didn't know you had a bit-beast," Kenny said enthusiastically.

"Me neither, I thought my medallion was just a… heirloom…"

Her voice became weaker and her legs finally gave in, but someone caught her from behind, stopping her fall. Her mind was so hazy and slow that she only realized who it was after he spoke.

"Nice speech back there. Pretty close to one of mine, I'd say," Tyson said. Any and all intentions he had of nagging Hilary diluted in a second when he saw her on the hallway, weak and about to faint. After such an intense match in her rushed circumstances, he came around to thinking he could give his criticism a rest, at least until she could argue back.

"Tyson?" She asked indistinctly.

"How many other handsome bladers do you see around here?" he asked with a smug smile. Hilary wanted to blot it out with a sarcastic reply, but she was too tired, and she would be pushing her luck since he wasn't shouting at her. As she managed to focus her sight, she realized his head was just above hers, watching over her thoughtfully while his arms helped her stand.

With a small sigh, he spoke again.

"Ok, I think I can tell why you hid everything from me all this time. But I'd still like if you told me something sooner. I could've helped you, too."

He sounded a bit reluctant, but he could understand that he was a bit too mean to Hilary sometimes. In fact, he had ruined her fun with the sport several times just those past few days without even knowing it, so he could pardon her somewhat.

Even though her eyes were half closed and her face was stained with dirt and sweat, she gave him such a genuine smile that it made his small effort more than worthwhile. Hilary couldn't be more pleased with herself. A strange inner peace came to her as she heard his approval. All the practice, all the lost hours, and that last marathon had all been worth it.

With that thought and the whisper of a "Thank you", Hilary fell asleep right there, still standing on Tyson's arms.

"H-Hey, Hilary? You ok?"

"It was bound to happen," Ellivah said, returning from bidding Kai good luck before his match. "She's just extremely tired, I'm sure she'll be alright."

Carrying Hilary with him, Tyson and the rest of the group returned to the stands to see the result of the fourth match of the day.

"And facing Hiwatari we have Arcturus Reaper, a player with a style as scary as his name!" A. J. was saying while a dark haired boy climed up the steps with his hands inside his pockets but a sharp, blue gaze much like Ellivah's, aimed straight toward an unimpressed Kai.

"His Edelweiss is said to be one of the coolest bit-beasts around, but we didn't see it so far. Maybe now we'll be able to see these two go all out."

If she was awake, Hilary would recognize him as the last member of the group in which Clavus, Fábio, and Psiché were all included.

Without having lost a single drop of energy since the start of the day, the crowd joined in the countdown with the referee and exploded in applause when both beyblades clashed in the air and sparked with a shrill sound. They landed and Kai was forced to go on the defensive when Arcturus proved to be faster. However, his bark was stronger than his bite and eventually Dranzer pushed through. With a jolt, Arcturus's light-blue and white beyblade managed to get away and circle the stadium, but Kai followed quickly and soon both to them were trading hits with each other, neck and neck, pressing around the stadium.

However, Kai had just the slightest edge and, with a click of his tongue, Arcturus accepted the fact that was a battle he wouldn't be able to win on his own. With his callings, a bit-beast rose from his beyblade just like the commentators said he owned, a white cheetah with blue spots and crystals, and wings on its back as if made of ice. It growled menacingly at Kai and with the next clash he almost lost control of his beyblade, not expecting the sort of power it mustered.

"_A worthy opponent."_

Even though Kai looked behind, he quickly turned back around to his beyblade. He knew exactly where that voice had come from.

"Dranzer!"

Wings first, the red phoenix rose from his beyblade and its talons met Edelweiss's frozen wings as the beyblades grinded it out furiously, muffled in the crowd's support. The cheetah's ice was strong and didn't melt with the phoenix's flame, which made their hearts burn even more with the excitement.

Arcturus had talent and his bit-beast was powerful, but Kai's experience gave them the edge they needed to slowly push his foe on the edge. When the cheetah's claws forced the phoenix to break from it, to circle the stadium and attack him again, Arcturus yelled a command:

"Winter Wing!"

Answering him, the cheetah jumped behind him and opened its wings, which, glowing, started to gather what appeared to be snow flakes, to be released in some kind of storm.

They couldn't let that happen.

"Spiral Fireball!"

Enveloped in flames, Dranzer charged right at the cheetah, and Artcurus prepared to release the attack at the proper moment to hit it at full power, as close as possible.

Just a little closer…

"Dammit, Arcturus, hurry up, will you? The ice scream store's about to close!"

Her scream was more than enough for him to lose all focus. Dranzer hit Edelweiss with his full capacity and Kai's beyblade hit his own into the stratosphere, while he watched it all powerlessly.

"Victory goes to Hiwatari," the referee said while the crowd chanted his name much like the same way they had done with Daichi and even Hilary before him. After collecting his Dranzer, he met Arcturus next to the disk and both shook hands.

"It was a good match," Kai said.

"Merit's all yours," Arcturus answered. "Anyone who keeps that kind of focus even when she shouts like that deserves a win in my book," he said pointing behind him with his head, where the Psiché girl was stomping her foot and yelling some more about not forgiving him for losing that way.

Thinking the only reason why he was capable of such a feat was because Hilary also shouted all the time and he had gotten used to it, Kai left the stadium to find Ellivah on the gate, waiting for her turn. They werely nodded to each other, and Kai joined the others on the stands, meeting an already awake and very embarrassed Hilary, who had discovered through Daichi that she had drolled all over Tyson's shoulder while she slept. However, he refused to make fun of her, simply stating that she'd be in charge of washing his shirt.

"And facing Misaki we have Lion Ushiromiya, who already had some pretty tough matches but managed to win it all with his bit-beast Battler," A. J. was saying, stopping Kai from leaving the stairs to sit down.

Just as he deduced from her words and match the previous day, Ellivah was finished seconds after the beyblades touched the stadium. No one chanted her name because almost no one knew who she was, but her victory was still highly applauded.

"We're all in!" Daichi said enthusiastically while she bowed to her foe and turned around for the exit.

"Now that the last match has been decided, let's welcome Japan's national team for the Beyblade World Championship!" Brad Best announced.

On the screens, Tyson, Daichi, Hilary, Kai, and Ellivah's faces were displayed side by side, with Kenny below with the technican tag, and the crowd applauded their representatives, while a huge smile was born on Hilary's face as she saw herself alongside her friends, as a true blader.

Hilary returned home by herself to tell her parents everything about the tournament and regain her strength in the peace and quiet of her own room. After Kenny compared her to Tyson, claiming that, during her match, she had the same determined look on her eye as he did, he claimed she could never reach his greatness and Daichi called them an old couple. The result was both of them getting slapped silly by her.

But she wondered about Kenny's words. It was true that a lot of her inspiration came from him, even though her playstyle was quite different. In fact, it was more akin to Ellivah's, which made sense if her bit-beast was truly what she belived it was. But could it mean that she was more alike to Tyson than she would want to admit?

She sighed and shook her head, thinking she could think properly about it after a good night's sleep, seeing the roof of her place peek from behind their neighbours'.

Before she reached the gate, someone jumped from the wall that surrounded her place and blocked her way. Hilary's heart skipped a beat when the stranger pulled down her hood, revealing her face, and she was unable to find words to say to her.

"Hi, Hilary," Mariam said with a serious stare. "Congratulations on today's fight. You did great."

"O-oh, thanks, Mariam…" She managed to say, after glancing at the roof of her place and seeing three more hooded shadows sitting there, looking over towards them.

"The bit-beast you released today. You know what it is."

Instead of feeling overjoyed like she had before, when she had released her and then talked about her with her teammates, her heart tightened almost to the point of stopping.

"Dawn, the Equilibrium of Light…" She gulped and looked back up, getting mentally prepared for another, much harder fight. "Are you here to seal it?"

Contrary to what she thought she's do, Mariam sighed and shook her head.

"We've thought about it, and we decided not to."

All of Hilary's nervousness vanished with a flick of a finger.

"W-what? Really?"

"You're inexperienced as a blader and that makes you a risky choice to protect Dawn, but fighting you now would just be unfair. Besides, we've tagged along with you guys long enough to know that you have a good head on your shoulders. As long as you don't look for trouble you should be fine."

"You're putting that much faith in me?" She asked, feeling her happiness come back, together with a little sense of pride.

"We've seen you practice with Kai and Ellivah a couple of times, and we've been watching you since last night. That was going a little bit overboard, you can't do it again."

"I won't, I won't!" she quickly answered.

"Alright. I'm sure you can become an amazing player if you keep being diligent and practice with the rest of them. You could even beat Tyson someday," Mariam said with a bit of a laugh.

"Oh-hoho, yes, that would the best thing that could happen, shut him up in his own game," she answered, but then her face changed into a grateful smile. "I'll do my best to become a good guardian for Dawn. I promise."

"That's good to know," Mariam answered with a nod, but her smile faded a bit. "However, I have to give you the same warning we gave everyone else. If something happens to you or your bit-beast, we will seal it."

"It's your duty. I understand," she answered with a nod. Mariam's smile returned and became a little more playful as she put a hand on Hilary's shoulder.

"Good luck on the championship, Hilary. We'll be cheering for you guys."

"Thank you," she answered, and Mariam jumped away to the rooftop to meet the rest of her team. She waved at them and Ozuma and Dunga waved back before turning around and disappearing behind the house with the siblings.

Chapter 9 – "_From all Sides_"

With a deep breath, Ray sat down and stretched his arms. While the cool morning breeze and the sounds of the leaves and the birds it carried were very tempting, Mariah had a point. They had dozed off for too long and needed to continue their training.

Countries were free to choose the format for the pre-eliminations that they saw fit, and in China they were already playing as 5 member teams, with the White Tigers steadily advancing through every round, cementing their position as the favourites to take their country's spot on the world championship. And, even if he was training with all of the other members in case it was necessary, Mariah was Ray's primary pair and training partner. They had been together for almost an year and could all but read each other's thoughts at that point, reacting as one regardless of what was happening on the disk in front of them.

Both of them stood back up, put their beyblades on their launchers and threw them with all their strenght. As the devices sped forward, they ran right behind them, dodging obstacles or clearing them away with each other's help. They had to get back to the village on time to have breakfast with the rest of the team so they could all practice together for the semi-final the following day.

Suddenly Galux took a sharp turn and attacked Driger, but when Ray looked to his side Mariah was smiling.

"Come on, don't go easy on me."

"You got it," he answered, letting Driger strike back, without losing speed or changing direction. They kept trading blows and testing their endurance as they ran across the brush, already halfway back, when a brown beyblade suddenly crashed into both Driger and Galux, interrupting their attack and sending them back to their owners hands. Ray and Mariah immediately stopped and looked around, finding the strange bey returning to the hand of a girl with short, unruly dark hair, covered in a dark travelling cape and standing atop a tree branch, as if expecting them to pass right by that path.

"You're from the White Tigers, right?" she asked.

"Yes, so?" Mariah answered, crossing her arms. "Who are you?"

"I've been watching your matches," she answered. "I couldn't participate in the tournament because I'm not part of a team, but I'd like to play against you."

"We're training for the semi-final tomorrow," Ray said. "We'll have to ask you to come back later, after the qualifiers are over."

"I might be able to help you with a couple of things," she said. "You never know how good your opponent is until you try and fight them."

Although Ray and Mariah glanced at each other for a moment, unsure if they should take her challenge or not, one of them quickly made up their mind.

"Tell you what, then. Beat me and you have our undivided attention," she said, turning back to the girl. She jumped down from the tree and, thanking them for the opportunity, put her beyblade back on her launcher and positioned herself like Mariah, while Ray got in the middle of the two of them to be their referee.

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

To Mariah's surprise, the girl was better than she had originally thought, not letting herself get caught by her quick and dangerous attacks and making advances while her guard was down, putting her on the back foot. However, once she got the message that her adversary was not an amateur like most of the people they had been facing in the tournament thus far, Mariah got the upper hand, blocking the stranger's attacks with ease and attacking with caution not to let herself open. Eventually she was dragging her opponent's beyblade towards a tree, with little she could do to stop the crash against its trunk and Mariah's victory. However, the girl's growing smile disturbed her, as if she was the one being tested there.

Suddenly, the girl's amused face shifted into a terrible smirk and a gust of dark wind erupted from her beyblade. Galux was thrown back but it didn't stop spinning, even if both Mariah and Ray were forced to cover their faces against the raw power that had been unleashed.

"What's going on?" she thought aloud, looking for the girl's beyblade on the floor, having seemingly vanished. Meanwhile, Ray looked up and saw a dark beam making a curve in their direction.

He couldn't shout in time or even move to ger her out of the way. The beam collided with her chest and flung her like a ragdoll, making her hit a tree with her back and fall to the floor, immobile.

"Mariah!"

Ray rushed to her side and could almost sigh of relief when he turned her over his knee and confirmed she had only lost consciousness, but an omnious laugh made him look back up, towards the girl she had been playing against.

"Take this useless piece of junk," she said as her beyblade attacked Galux, throwing it into the air and straight towards them. While Ray caught it with his free hand, the girl's smirk didn't wane as she pointed at them.

"Get them, DarkHushwing!"

Her bey sped towards them as a massive dark blue owl with tufts of black feathers above its eyes, surrounded by a dark aura, dropped from the tree tops and bared its claws against them. In the blink of an eye Ray was lifting Mariah up on his shoulder and jumping away, making their attack connect with the tree behind them, which broke and fell down with a heavy, loud rumble, masking his movements. When the dust settled, even if she couldn't see or hear them, the girl didn't move, knowing that it would be impossible for such a challenge to go unanswered.

And, just as she had predicted, moments after that a silver beyblade was shooting from the trees and colliding with hers, while Ray dropped down a safe distance away from her.

"You're the one who's after Driger," he said with cold composure.

"Oh, so your friends warned you about us?" she asked, keeping her malicious smile. "And you've still let your girlfriend be attacked by me."

"And I'll make you regret it."

Ia a flash Driger was out of its bey and trading blows with the owl above the treetops, while down below sparks flew from the clashing metal as it brushed aside twigs and dirt from the ground. It had been stupid of him to let his guard down even after Kenny's warning, but the girl was much more ferocious and her bit-beast far more powerful than they had anticipated, not only matching their blows, but overpowering them thouroughly, knocking them back with every frontal encounter and then chasing them around for more.

"_We've beaten stronger opponents before."_

"_I know, but the chances she's giving us are traps."_

"_And you don't want her to find where you've hidden Mariah."_

"_Of course I don't!"_

"Ray!"

He instantly turned around to find her behind them, atop a bulky branch, getting her Galux ready to be lauched.

"No! Go and get Lee!" He yelled, feeling his enemy's attacks getting suddenly more relentless.

"But-"

"Go! Please!"

Her expression changed as his concern finally hit her, and Mariah snarled at the mysterious girl, but ended up turning around and vanishing among the treetops. Meanwhile, his opponent merely broke down laughing and her bey and her bit-beast's attacks grew stronger, faster, but also more predictable, as if she had suddenly stopped bothering to think about them.

"_Can you think better now that she's gone from here?"_

"_Yes. I wanted to say this was like Selima, but…"_

"_She's embracing this power instead. She's not even trying to fight it."_

"_That's even more frightening."_

"_Should we try and help them?"_

"… _We'll have to beat some sense into her first."_

As they kept dodging her attacks, waiting for the right opportunity, the girl stopped laughing and stared towards Ray, but without looking at him, as if she was watching something on the void of her eye no one else could see. Her attacks and her bit-beast continued to be as relentless as ever, but Ray and Driger kept their focus and managed to dodge most of what they threw their way and block the rest. They were being thrown around and constantly on the edge, but they had managed to somehow stay afloat against an opponent who hit as hard as a truck and was faster than a lot of their previous opponents.

Slowly, Driger managed to lure them near a tree and bait out a strong dash. He quickly jumped out of the way and let the beyblade and its bit-beast collide against its trunk, snapping it and making it fall down. While the girl recognized the move, she didn't move and her beyblade kept spinning until the noise dissipated, but both Driger and its bey had vanished among the brush.

"Oh, come on, I know you're not going anywhere," she purred.

"No, but do try and find a tiger while it stalks its prey."

"Oh, I'm the prey now? Fine," she answered with a laugh. "Let's see how long your hiding place lasts, then. DarkHushwing, destroy this forest!"

Without so much as a flinch, the dark owl descended on the treetops and its beyblade crashed into the trees, one after another, forcing both players to continuously move out of the way not to get crushed. It wasn't the outcome Ray had expected, but it was one they could certainly use to their advantage. While on the move, they observed the bit-beast, the beyblade and the girl, who soon started laughing again, lost on her bit-beast's power.

"There's nowhere to hide! We'll kill you and take Driger like candy from a baby."

DarkHushing was rising and its beyblade blindly jumped towards another trunk.

"Now! Thunder Slash!"

With the speed of a lightning bolt Driger jumped from the trees and collided with DarkHushing from below, at the same time as Ray's beyblade hit the girl's. Its face hit a trunk and the bey fell to the ground as immobile as a rock.

Instead of returning to the bit, DarkHushwing let out a shrilling cry and the aura around it thickened to the point of completely clouding it. It turned into the shape of a spear and turned towards the girl who, for the first time, showed terror on her eyes. In the blink on an eye, the spear descended on her and crossed her from side to side, throwing her back and to the ground, where she remained immobile.

Once Driger vanished, Ray collected his beyblade and took a step towards her, but a kunai fell from the treetops and stopped him from taking another one. When he looked up, a man in a black garb which covered almost the entirety of his body and face appeared from seemingly out of nowhere and grabbed the girl, while another one took the brown bey she had been using. Without a word and even without aknowledging his presence, both of them vanished inside the brush, but when Ray tried following them another three kunai landed in front of his feet and he begurgingly decided against it.

Familiar voices called for him and he turned around to find the rest of the White Tigers rushing to him through the brush.

"Are you alright?" Lee asked, stopping next to him.

"Yes."

"We saw some crazy black aura and then it just disappeared," Kevin said.

"Where is she?" Mariah asked, looking behind him for any evidence of the mysterious girl.

"Gone. Some freaks dressed in black came out of nowhere to get her," he answered. "They also took her beyblade."

"Is this what you told us about? The people who attacked Tyson and were coming for Driger?" Lee asked.

"I'm sure of it," he answered, nodding, turning to Mariah afterwards. "Are you hurt?"

She shook her head. "What are we going to do now? Will they come back?"

"I don't know."

"We took Kenny's warning too lightly," Gary said.

"You're right. You two shouldn't go out alone anymore," Kevin said.

After glancing at each other, Ray and Marian nodded in agreement.

"Let's go back, everyone," he said. "We can still squeeze in some training for tomorrow's semi-final back home."

Chapter 9 – _"In Danger of Wed"_

_Hiding in the base of a mountain range, the army of spirits and their wielders celebrated their newest victory over a powerful noble house, with good food, drink, and merry music._

_So when the encampment started falling into silence gradually and without any sort of explanation, it started to worry her. Urged by Dawn, she stretched out her neck to try and find the reason for such curiosity, but it was either very short, or it was something that couldn't be seen at all._

_Soon after that Daichi popped from the crowd. His curious green eyes looked at her from top to bottom, and he raised an eyebrow._

"_You're the one everyone calls the Priestess of Light?" he asked._

"_Yes, that's me."_

"_You don't look like much," he said, twisting his nose. "You're not even pretty."_

"_Hey!"_

"_Well, I can manage," he shrugged. "I want to join this here army of yours to roll some presumptuous heads. I'm Daichi, and this is Strata Dragoon."_

_Lowering his arm, he showed them the proud image of a golden dragon with purple wings engraved on it._

"_Hey, little kid, do you even know how to fight?" Tai asked with a tone of contempt._

"_Of course I do! You want to try me?"_

"_You're on! There's only one Dragoon and that's mine."_

Two days had gone by since the end of the tournament, and Tyson wanted to use the chance to relax and sleep until late afternoon. That was a plan that wouldn't last for long.

Hurried steps echoed on the porch outside the dojo and the door flung open, letting morning light invade it in all of its glory. Tyson and Daichi were deeply asleep and didn't notice a thing, unlike Kai, already dressed and putting away his futon, who took a glance at the early intruder with a bamboo sword, sneaking towards Tyson's futon, before going back to his task.

Unware of the shadow covering his face, Tyson kept happily snoring, while the intruder lowered its face towards his ear with a vicious smirk and, guessing what was about to happen, Kai covered his ears.

BAM

"WAKE UP TYSON!"

He jumped from the mattress and rolled clumsily towards the wall, where he hit his head and froze upside down. Daichi had also woken up with the yell and the strike of the sword on the floor, but he simply lifted his head from his pillow, eyes half-closed, and looked about blindly before laying back down.

Hurting all over, Tyson sat straight against the wall and yawned loudly.

"Ouch, my head…" he said rubbing its back. Then, he turned to the shouter. "Hey, what's your problem, Hilary?"

"Well, we have a pending bet with Daichi to deal with… I think today would be fine for it," she said, with a dangerous smile on her lips.

"What bet?" he asked, confused by the drowsiness that hadn't left yet, but rapidly panicked when he remembered. "Oh, no. Can't we do it some other day?"

"Why? Is there a problem with it being today?" she asked, her dangerous smile not only persisting but thriving on her face.

"N-no, no problem at all," Tyson answered uncorfortably.

Clearly there was a problem, and that was precisely why Hilary had chosen that day, the last day of the month.

When Daichi made a point of telling grampa Granger all about his bet with Tyson and how he had brilliantly won, with Hilary close by to back up the entire story, grampa had "accidentally" told them Tyson saved most of his allowance until the last day of the month, just before he got a new allowance. On that day, he spent everything he had left on food, in celebration for the money he'd get the next day.

Hearing about it, Hilary thought it was a bad use of his money so, with grampa and Daichi's vivid approval, she decided to help him use it on something more useful. For her, of course.

Therefore, on the last day of the month, she kept her mischievous smile and ordered:

"Well, as there's no problem at all, go get dressed so we can go out."

"What, now? For Christ's sake, Hilary-"

"It was a bet both Kai and me witnessed," she interrupted. "I could go and wake up Ells, too."

Without further complain he got up and Hilary left the dojo to let him dress in peace, going through her plan for the day with a sort of glee she rarely experienced.

Shortly afterwards Tyson met her on the kitchen, with the table completely set for the residents' breakfast. Before he could complain she ordered him not to, and demanded that he ate as if it was the tastiest thing in the world. She had breakfast with him and, after they were both done, she dragged Tyson out to the street. There was little he hated more than waking up early in the morning, even during Summer, when the breeze was smooth and the sun welcoming.

Apparently their morning would begin with some jogging, so he followed her around the neighbourhood for a couple of hours until they stopped for an early lunch on a simple fast food restaurant, using his money. Then Hilary dragged Tyson into a part of town he had never dared setting foot into.

It was a street in the heart of downtown with exclusively formal and female clothing stores, where they spent most of the afternoon, hopping from shop to shop. Altough he tried to have a peek every now and again, Tyson never managed to see Hilary inside any of the changes of clothes or dresses she brought into the fitting rooms, taking her own conclusions and refusing his help. Resignated to his task, Tyson merely followed Hilary, fataly bored, but at least watching her be as satisfied as never before, whenever she wasn't alone inside the booths and he wasn't leaning on some wall or pillar, trying to deflect the curious stares and giggles of the other women around.

Once she was done choosing they returned to the start of the street, but Hilary only entered specific stores to buy the clothes she had liked the most. Most of Tyson's old allowance evaporated in a dress and a new outfit for Hilary, and a dress for Ells, and it was unlikely he ever saw them wear any of it, so he understandably sighed of relief when she said she was done shopping and handed him the last bag.

"Ok, what do I have to do now?" he asked.

"Hmm… I dunno. Maybe we could go around the park, or…" but before she could finish her thought her hand was seized by him and she was pulled back right into his chest.

"Hey, what are you doing?" she asked, quickly turning around and feeling her cheeks bruning up.

"I'm asking you, you're the one who was about to cross on a red sign," he answered pointing with his head to the pedestrian signal on the other side of the road. Because she was looking back to talk to him she didn't notice the cars speeding on the street and the people waiting for their turn to cross.

As she turned back to thank him, Hilary crossed eyes with a woman looking down to her hands curiously. When she looked back down, at the same time as Tyson, they were still holding hands and their fingers had somehow locked into each other. With a shout they both let go, as if they had caught some sort of fatal disease, and once the sign turned green they hurried down the street, as separately as possible, in akward silence.

His hand had almost felt natural until she actually saw it… Thinking about it only made things worse, as Hilary felt her cheeks burning from embarrassment. She still had a couple of hours left to boss Tyson around, but she couldn't think of any other way to bully him after that. When she gathered up the courage to have a discreet glance at him, she found his expression to be undecipherable, as if he was just as embarrassed and ignoring the whole thing at the same time. He hadn't complained the whole day, but it was obvious that the shopping trip had bored him half to death, and Hilary was surprised as much as she was disappointed he hadn't even said a word about it. In fact, she had hoped he'd complain so that she could just order him to shut up.

Maybe there was something she could for him during the rest of the day instead and, after pondering for a while, she blocked his way and stopped him.

"Ok, I have an idea for what we're going to do now," she said. "First, we'll both go home to take a shower and dress up. When you're all prettied up you'll come to my place, and then we'll go someplace special."

"What place?" Tyson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's for me to know and you to find out. Now, give me those, and make sure you're properly dressed up."

Taking her shopping bags with her, Hilary bolted, leaving him standing there and scratching his head. There wasn't really much more for him to do other than going back home, wondering about what she had in mind. With any luck she'd drag him into a medieval torture devices shop, where she could have a few more laughs at his expense for holding her hand during a couple seconds more than strictly necessary.

As soon as he closed the door, telling the residents he was back, Daichi rushed at the entrance with his eyes gleaming with curiosity and mischief.

"Well, Tyson? Shouldn't you be out obeying Hilary's every command?" he asked.

"I am," he answered with a sigh, pushing him aside to get into the hallway. "Apparently I have to get all fancy because she wants to go somewhere, and she didn't tell me where or what we're gonna do there."

"Oh man, you're so screwed, I wished I could see the whole thing," Daichi said, laughing his ass off. "Go get all fancy, servant Tyson, or are you going to leave your mistress waiting?"

All he wanted was to yell back at Daichi and rip a couple of his hairs, but if he got distracted and left Hilary waiting, never mind getting mocked, he'd be murdered. So he did his best to ignore Daichi's laughs and locked himself in the bathroom for his shower.

Despite Hilary's order, he dressed with another pair of jeans, t-shirt, training jacket and his usual cap and then asked Kenny, who had been in the dojo working with Dizzi all day on their five beyblades, for directions towards Hilary's place. He managed to leave before Daichi, who was circling Grampa trying to find out what they'd have for dinner, noticed he was out of the bathroom. Down the street he passed by Kai and Ells, returning home after another one of their silent absences, but other than a quick hi they didn't exchange any other words.

As the sun lazily set on the far horizon, hidden behind hills and tall buildings, and the sky mingled in tones of pink, orange, and the dark blue of night, he arrived the Tachibana residence and, after taking a long look at the place from its small gate, he rang the door bell. The woman who opened had the same fierce eyes as Hilary, but a curled mane dropping down just below her shoulders.

"Oh, you must be Tyson," she said with a smile. "I heard Hilary made you go through a rough time today. Come in, she's almost done."

As he crossed the door he felt a gaze as piercing as a bullet on the back of his head, but he didn't look around to the grown woman, partially because it would be rude, but mostly because something told him his head would burst if he did.

He was invited to take a seat on the sofa and Hilary's mother sat across from him, looking at him not nearly as intensively, but taking notes about his aspect and posture.

"That doesn't seem like an appropriate type of outfit for the place you're going…" she ended up saying, taking a hand to her chin.

"Hilary didn't tell where we're going, Mrs. Tachibana," he answered, still a bit unconfortable with her staring.

"Oh. But she should've told you to dress carefully, I suppose."

"Yes, but I don't really know how to do that."

Truth was Tyson didn't own clothes more formal than his tracksuits and caps, and whatever his dad or grampa owned were too large for him to use.

"I see…" the woman looked at him pensive, but then smiled, bringing her hand back down to her lap. "You know, it's the first time my Hilary goes out at the night with a boy. And you had to lose a bet for that to happen. That girl's just too proud…" after letting out a resignated sigh, she looked back up to him, her smile restored and sprinkled with a little something else that made another thing inside of him freeze with fright. "Anyway, you'd better make this a memorable night for her, alright?"

Hilary could be scary, but she had definitely gotten it from the person sitting in front of him.

"Mom!" Hilary's voice called, coming from above them. "I need the hair dryer, do you know where it is?"

They both turned their heads to find her halfway down the stairs, with nothing but a towel on her head and a fluffly cream coloured bath robe covering her body. Her cheeks turned bright red as she and Tyson looked at each other and she quickly vanished behind the corner of the staircase.

"Why didn't you tell me Tyson was here?" she asked with a tone of panic on her embarrassed voice.

"It didn't even cross my mind," she said with a mild smile. Telling him to make himself at home, she got up from the sofa and climbed the stairs to help her daughter.

Fortunatly they took their time returning back down, which gave Tyson just enough time to get rid of his own red cheeks, thinking Hilary looked just fine with only her robe, and then shaking his head to rattle his ideas straight.

All of his efforts evaporated when Hilary and her mother returned. She wore the dress she had bought that same day, which he recognized being stuffed into a bag by the cashier before he had to pay for it. Tied behind her neck, it flowed down just above her knees, with a silver sequins strip on both right and left ends running from top to bottom. Its light-blue silk opened below her belly to show another, amethyst coloured skirt inside, and made a slight tail behind her back.

The dress coursed Hilary's curves like it was made specifically for her, and when Tyson noticed, his cheeks were burning again and he had stopped breathing, as if the sight had robbed him of all of his wind. That time he didn't shake his head awake, but he managed to look to the side, towards the nearby coffee table, to set his mind straight again. He felt like a fool for letting a pretty skirt get into his head like that.

"Dammit, Tyson, I ask you once to put on something decent and you still don't listen," she grumbled, approaching him. "Well, there's no helping it. You'll have to go just the way you are," then she turned back to her mother. "We need to get going, mom. We won't be late."

"Ok, but are you sure it's enough?" she asked.

"Yeah, don't worry," Hilary answered, even though Tyson didn't understand what they were talking about. "Bye!"

Hilary seemed to have a clear route to take and walked with confidence, just ahead of him, through the darkening streets. If she didn't proceed with such conviction Tyson could almost believe they had gotten lost once or twice through narrow and obscured roads, and it was with astonishment that he set eyes on the restaurant that emerged at the end of the last street that Hilary had dwelled into. Altough it was modest, it smelled of fancy dinners, which matched her soft blue dress perfectly. Even if his attire wouldn't even help him pass by as just modest Hilary didn't seem to mind, grabbing his wirst when he stopped and peeked ar the windows, gaping, and dragging him inside without letting him utter a word. They sat in a table for two next to one of the building's wide windows and soon they were served a small free couvert and the menu.

"There's so much stuff…" He said, after slurping the little salad, looking over the enourmous list.

"I'd go for this menu if I were you," Hilary said pointing at the house's special. "If you ask for a dose for two they'll give you free dessert, and you can eat all of that by yourself just fine."

"And what's on that?"

"I dunno, but it should be good."

"And what are you eating?"

"What I always ask when I come here with my parents."

It was a well known restaurant in the area, but it was a weekday and it wasn't full. The voices of people chatting on the other tables were hushed out by the thick carpet and walls, and there was funky music on the background at just the right volume to be heard, but not to get in the way of a conversation. Also, the food that the two waiters carried around, perfectly balanced in their arms, looked nothing short of delicious.

Sooner than later their orders were placed in front of them and, after a bite to make sure his plate was as good as it looked, Tyson dug in like a starved wolf. When he glanced up to Hilary's plate, it was almost as big as his two doses, but she determinantly took in all of it, with a touch of greediness.

"Is it that good?" Tyson asked after swallowing, getting but a nod in return. Before she could stop him, Tyson fished for a bit of her pasta and put it on his mouth. Considering Hilary's usual taste it was excepcionally good.

"Hey, give me back my food," she grumbled when he reached for another piece of pasta.

"You're gonna have to get it," he said waving his fork and laying out his tongue. Without restraint, Hilary reached out and snatched it.

"Hey, take your mouth away from here," Tyson grumbled, pulling the empty fork far from the girl. Hilary also laid out her tongue like a little imp, and quckly seized a piece of his beef, saying it was to put back what he stole.

For the rest of dinner they juggled between eating from their plates or stealing from the other one, which was more fun than they would've liked to admit. They both asked for seconds and then settled for dessert and, even though Tyson didn't steal from Hilary's single slice of cake, she had his "permission" to take whatever she wanted from his five different sorts of sweets. If any of them weren't so focused on the other's presence and their little game, they would've noticed the curious glances from other guests of the restaurant. Perhaps it was for the best if they didn't, for the mood could've vanished just as fast as the lock on their hands.

When they were done Tyson gazed at the numerous amount of plates that had accumulated on their table with some concern. After the clothes, he shouldn't have enough money to pay for all of that but, just as he turned to warn her, Hilary got the waiter's attention and asked for the bill.

"I don't have enough money for all this," he whispered after the waiter was gone. However, she just turned away and ignored him. Before he could insist with a louder voice, the waiter returned and Hilary handed him several bills coming directly from her pouch. After he counted the money the waiter bid them a good evening and, with a discreet bow, left them while Tyson's jaw dropped to the floor.

As if deciding the best way to wake him up from his trance, Hilary stared him down, much like her mother did as she evaluated him, before speaking with her nose stuck up in the air.

"Let's just say you behaved excepcionally well during the day, so I've decided to reward you."

Her mother's words about Hilary being too proud came to mind, and the traces of a smirk were drawn in his face. It was as strange as it was warming seeing Hilary trying to thank him in such an unorthodox way, pretending that was not what she meant at all.

"Okay, I'll take your reward," he said letting his smile grow larger. She looked at it with a bit of suspicion, but held back her curiosity and stood up from the table.

"Well, I think we can consider the bet's over now," she said while both of them left the restaurant. "But it's still early to go back home, Daichi'll probably start saying I didn't do good enough of a job. How about we take a walk around?"

"Sure."

Downtown and all of its nightlights were nearby, and they wandered there, staying away from the clothing street that time, looking at the closing window shops and trading impressions over the trinkets, anime merchandise and street food that were sold about. They entered a beyblade shop to eye the parts that they had on sale, but as they left they were saying the BB Shop was better, and that nothing compared to the stuff Kenny got his hands on.

While they laughed, Hilary suddenly froze in front of a jewelry, hiponotized by its window.

"What's wrong?" Tyson asked, turning back and joining her, without seeing anything out of the ordinary among the necklaces, watches and exorbitant prices. She glanced at him, still with a sliver of shock, and pointed towards a specific item.

It was a pretty and delicate silver ring interwined with a golden piece like a small plant vine, with three amethyst stones, two larger ones flanking a smaller one sculpted almost like a purple rose in a bed of gold. Next to it, the price tag stated a major discount from its original price.

"What about it?" he asked, thinking that was no reason to get so worked up.

"This ring… I've always loved it. Everytime I pass by this shop I take a look at it and its always here, but only because it was really expensive. A lot of other women also gathered here sometimes, and I think they all wanted it but couldn't afford it. I've never seen it on sale like this. Now someone's definitely coming here and buy it… Damn."

Sighing, she turned around and walked down the street with Tyson just behind her, unaware that she was the only one who still wanted it. The jewel had been tailored to one of the greatest movie celebrities in the world, and it had vanished after her death, until it was seemingly found by the owner of that shop. So its price was exceedingly high, and no one who could afford it actually did, smelling the scam. Years later, a family member of the celebrity showed in public with the real ring, and all the ladies who had gathered around the window shop for its history vanished in the wind. With the story out in the open, the owner had no choice but to lower the price into something that more accurately matched the ring's true value.

As she didn't know any of those things, Hilary only cared about its captivating beauty. Even if she asked her mother for an early allowance, chances were that the ring wouldn't be there the next time she returned to the shop, and Tyson could more or less understand why she was so sad about it. Even though he didn't agree fully to it, it still bummed him to see Hilary's energy so different from the laughs in the restaurant.

They wandered for a while longer in silence until they reached a park, where she sat on the swing and looked up to Tyson.

"Look, why don't you do as you always do and spend the rest of your money on food?" she said, brushing off her mood. "You'll be getting more tomorrow, anyway."

"Yeah, sure- How did you know that?" he asked.

"Your grampa told me. Why did you think I picked today?" she said, crossing her arms as if it was too obvious for her explanation. "You'll be getting more money tomorrow, so it wouldn't be as bad as if we came here tomorrow and I forced you to spend the month without a penny."

"Oh," he managed to say, swearing to strangle his grampa when he got back home. However, he was also thankful for her letting him keep his next allowance in full.

"Well? Go on, I'll wait for you here," she insisted, pointing with her head outside the park.

As soon as he fell out of her sight Hilary dropped all false expressions and let her disappointed gaze tumble into the ground below her feet. She swung for a bit, hoping to be able to forget about the ring before Tyson returned so that she wouldn't spoil such a fun evening with her bad mood, but she ended up giving up on the idea, thinking that it'd be his fault if he pissed her off at that point. She got up from the swing and sat on an empty bench, gazing at the crescent moon hanging high above like a sinister smile. A breeze caressed her skin and gently rustled the nearby trees, cooling the night that had been unbearably hot during the last couple of days, and helping her find her peace.

Enjoying the sounds of the leaves and the distant barks of dogs and cars, Hilary didn't even notice Tyson's silent arrival until he was right next to her.

"Only that?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, seeing the meager bag of candy he carried. She was sure she had left him a whole lot more than a couple of Yen.

"Yeah, only this," he said sitting down next to her. Then he extended a box of traditional sweets. "You want one?"

"With that much candy you'll regret you even considered the possibility of giving me one," she answered.

"Indulge me. Come on."

His peddler stare, almost like the eyes of a puppy, ended up softening her a bit and she took one, sucking it slowly on her mouth.

"You're gonna do something else for me," he said.

"Why should I? I thought I was the one entitled to orders today," she said, starting to feel annoyed at his insistence.

"Hey, I gave you a piece of my candy so it's the least you could do. But, if you put it that way," he said, letting his last words hang like a piece of bait that Hilary ended up taking.

"Fine, but be careful with what you want me to do."

"Okay then, close your eyes," he said, standing up and facing her.

"Close my eyes? For what?"

"You'll see."

"No, tell me."

"You said you'd do it, so close your eyes and don't complain," he said with a tone of authority. Nervously, she did so, trying to avoid imagining whatever mischievous goals he might have.

"Ok, now you only open them when I tell you to."

She nodded and waited. He took her left hand, which made her heart almost jump, but then she felt something cold sliding into her ring finger, and confusion and hope governed her without her consent.

"Ok, princess. You can open your eyes now."

Usually Tyson only used "princess" or "your highness" when he was being maliciously sarcastic, but that kind of tone was nowhere to be found on his voice, which was surprising in its own right. As she opened her eyes, she saw him kneeling in front of her with a rare genuine smile, but before she could ask what was that all about the moonlight shone on her finger. With mute wonder, she met the ring of entwined silver and gold with three amethyst stones, the one in the middle sculpted in starry shapes, on her ring finger, still nestled with the rest in his warm hand.

Pleased with the priceless naked shock on her face, Tyson stood from the floor and smirked. It would be difficult to get more emotion from her than that.

"Let's just say that you were very nice to me at the restaurant, so I decided to- Ow!"

While trying to copy Hilary's proud way of thanking him at the restaurant, she flung into his arms and kissed him on the cheek, squeezing him in a strong hug while repeating an unmistakable whisper of gratidude.

"Thank you!"

More than just surprised, Tyson was pleased, even if a little embarrassed. Her slim form so close to his while she held him strongly from feversh happiness was irreristable, and he held her back, feeling some of his embarrassment wane. Then, he whispered softly in her ear.

"You're welcome."

During a short lapse of time, in his mind at least, they stayed together until Hilary realized the akward thing she was doing and stepped away from him, feeling her cheeks burn up like never before.

"Huh… I'm sorry," she said, so red her cheeks were visible in the dark of night.

"That's okay," he answered smiling more than he meant to. She ended up smiling back, dazzling him for just a moment with its brilliance before he forced himself back to his feet.

"It's getting pretty late, we should get going," he said. "Daichi should be thinking you did a pretty good job by now."

Then he grabbed her hand like it was nothing and took her back to his place, where she'd be staying the night back in his room with Ellivah. Hilary had never expected he could just take her like that, so relaxingly, but she didn't find the heart to make him let go of her. She was too happy eying her new ring in the moonlight to mind other minor details.

As soon as they entered Tyson's place, still holding hands, Daichi jumped in, giving them one of the biggest scares of their lifes, and they immediately broke off.

"So. How did the date go?" he asked with a sly smile.

"…date?" asked Tyson, unable to assimilate the word.

"Yeah. It was a date, right?"

Obviously he waited for the two of them to shout at him so he could laugh and make fun of their reactions, and was slightly disappointed when they merely stared at each other hesitantly, without uttering a word.

Truth was none of them had a definite answer to his question.

"It was totally a date!" Daichi shouted, his mind blown to bits, pointing at the two of them.

"W-why do you say that?" Hilary said, trying to buy some time, but failing, blushing out of control.

"You two are all quiet, you're very suspicious. Did you kiss each other?"

That was enough to bring enough energy to the two of them to yell back at him.

"It wasn't a date!"

However, his theory only proved itself and Daichi dropped to the floor laughing like a hyena when, instead of continuing to yell him, Hilary left to the bedroom to slip into her pijamas and Tyson locked himself inside the bathroom to wash his teeth.

Although Ellivah had waited for Hilary, reading with curiosity one of Tyson's shonen comics, to listen to her talk about her day like they usually did, Hilary simply dropped down on her mattress and said goodnight without another word. Down on the dojo, Tyson did the same thing before Daichi could find him, knowing he'd never disturbing a sleeping Kai with his nagging.

Even on his futon, he found it was very troubling to fall asleep. He had never been that way with a girl, and he had never imagined he'd like it so much. But was it a date? They had dinner together on a fancy restaurant and he bought her the ring she wanted so much, resulting in that enthusiastic embrace at the end.

Yes, it had been a date. He knew it even before they had left the Tachibana residence. There was no deying it. That had been his first date. But with Hilary, of all people? There were much better female players out there, some of them hotter than she was, and none of them louder. Annoyed, he forced those thoughts out and tried to get some sleep while, a couple of floors higher, Hilary reached the exact same conclusion he had.

Yes, it had been a date. At first, she also got pissed at the fact that her first date had been with such an idiot, but then she calmed down, reaching enlightment. She had enjoyed herself more than with arguably anyone else she could've asked out, but actually liking him…

Was she falling in love with him?

Was it hard to say, or just hard to admit?

Could even be both at the same time.

Thinking about him and trying to make sense of her confused heart, Hilary ended up falling asleep, with the moonlight still shining on the gifted ring on her finger.

_Word had gotten to them about a city to the north, that had managed to defend itself alone from the nobles' assault. Apparently the original monarch had fallen to ruin, but no one else was allowed to take his place, being blocked entry by a spirit. The fortress had been built near the edge of a high escarpment, behind which the sea stroke with violent, loud waves._

_Leaving Kenichi with the bulk of the army, she, Tai, Ryoga, Kaito and Daichi moved alone for the massive, thick wooden gates._

"_Who goes there?" shouted a voice from the gate's niches._

"_We wish to talk to the leader of this fortress!" Tai shouted back. "We are escorting the Priestess of Light!"_

_Soon a heavy lock clung and a pair of smaller doors opened from within the gates, letting the five of them inside. They were met by a group of soldiers who guided them among the quiet village inside towards the castle, and then to the main hall where Max stood in front of the throne, his hair darker than his normal bright blond._

"_So you're the Priestess of Light I've heard so much about," he said, observing the group. "You're as pretty as I've heard."_

"_He must be seeing things," Daichi whispered, getting stomped by her for his trouble._

"_Why did you want to see me?" the man continued._

"_We've heard that this fortress has been protecting spirits wielders, just like we've been fighting for their freedom," she answered._

"_That's true. I'm Makoto, the only son of the former lord of this castle. My father kept an open mind, and didn't agree with the views of the other nobles about spirit wielders. He was assassinated during a visit with me to another lord's domain, but I managed to escape with Draciel, my spirit. I called the people from our territory here, and me and my fellow spirit wielders have been defending this place so they can't bend us to their will. It's what you want to do with your army, right?"_

"_Yes. I'm Hina, and I wanted to verify these rumors to propose an alliance between us. The lords continuously threaten to hurt those who are dear to us, so most of our army are farmers, women and children who don't know how to fight nor should have to, but that we have to protect. They are tired and afraid of enemy attack at any moment, with reason. If you could welcome them while we fight, we'll strengthen your own defences. You'll also have more working hands and cattle to add your own."_

"_Hmm… It's not a bad offer, Priestess Hina," he said, scratching his chin. "I'll summon a council to discuss this with my people, but it'll take some time. You're welcome to stay here for the night."_

Daichi was more agitated than normal, but then again, Daichi was always agitated when he had to fly on a plane, regardless of circumstances.

Looking out the window, Hilary thought of how Mr. Dickenson had come to talk to them two days before. Before the tournament proper started, each team could invite or be invited by three teams to play on their home country in friendly matches as preparation. They wanted to invite the Chinese and American teams to see Ray and Max, but both of them had already three invitations, and Japan's team also had three invitations of their own that they couldn't ignore.

So the plane was taking off towards Ryiadh for their first friendly match.

Both Hilary and Tyson had spent the last few days cautiously avoiding mentioning anything about their date. Inside the plane they didn't even cross each other, sitting in opposite windows and with a full middle row between them. Even though she didn't know what Tyson was thinking about, Hilary tried not to think about anything, gazing at the cloud formations below while paying no attention to Ellivah's slight panic at her first flight experience, Kai pretending to be asleep, Kenny taking care of their data with Dizzi, Daichi as stiff as a ironing board, and Tyson looking out his own window on the other side of the plane.

Most people ignored their arrival at the Rabat-Salé airport, close to the capital, even with Daichi's recovered energy running out with Tyson towards the bus they had to catch for the hotel, but most doesn't mean all.

"Is it that group?" asked a boy with a white taqiyah and sunglasses, looking impatiently at them crossing the arrival gate.

"Yes, my lord," answered the girl next to him, fully covered with a black burka except for her sharp, black eyes.

"And those are the girls? They are both beautiful, especially the lilac haired one."

"Of course, my lord."

"Contact the market dealers. I must have those girls."

"As you wish, my lord."

As she bowed slightly and left in hurried steps, the boy watched the group for a few more moments, thrilled for getting his hands on such pretty girls.

A guide had been sent by the Moroccan team to steer them where they needed to be and, after they were settled in their hotel, lunch called. Daichi and Tyson stuffed themselves and that time Hilary just ignored them. Then the two of them decided to take a quick nap to rest from the trip and practice later, so the boys stayed on the hotel while Hilary, unwilling to just stand there and do nothing like them, dragged Ellivah into the sun for a tour of the city with their guide, claiming to return in a couple of hours and expecting to see them practicing at that point.

After the guide took them to the nearby mosque, where they weren't allowed to enter, he took them to the street market, saying the wares and traditions they could see there would make up for it. Throughout its entire stretch, the women they saw covered at least their hairs with colourful kerchiefs, or just covered themselves entirely with long, black robes, letting only their eyes be seen, like beads suspicious of the world outside. Altough Hilary found it odd, but didn't think too much of it, Ellivah noticed the way those women and some of the men glanced at them, not only as foreigners, but as if they were breaking some sort of unspoken rule just by being there, and she reached out for Hilary's arm.

"We should go back to the hotel and practice," she said with a tone of urgency on her voice.

"No way. Let them snore for all I care," Hilary answered, choosing the ignore her in favour of the unconfortable feeling that swelled up on her stomach when she thought of being in proximity of Tyson again.

"That's not-"

Out of nowhere a cloth was pressed against their mouths, soaked in a strong, sweet liquid like alcohol, and their consciousness quickly faded out into black.

It was three and a half, local time, and Tyson was playing against Daichi again out of rage, triggered about his date with Hilary, which he had remembered to inquire him about. It was the perfect opportunity to test the new beyblades Kenny had made for them, so, without joining in their shouts, Kenny simply recorded the match and Kai watched with his arms crossed. His attention was captured by running footsteps, and he turned to see a kid running towards them in a hurry.

"Are you the Japanese Beyblade team?" he asked, looking at their funny faces.

"Yes."

"Coward!" Daichi was saying as Tyson's Dragoon was caught by his hand, forfeiting the match.

"Shut up, Daichi. What do you want?" Tyson said, crossing his arms in front of the kid.

"You have a message from our beloved prince, captain of the Moroccan team. You're pretty lucky. Or maybe not," he said, handing Tyson an elaborate envelope and turning to leave the way he had come from.

"Wait, did you see any of the girls from our team?" Tyson asked, grabbing hold of his shoulder. Truth be told, Hilary and Ells had been gone for more than two hours, and it had started to get on his nerves.

"Two Japanese girls, one with lilac hair?" he asked. "Yes, their guide was taking them towards the market, but their clothes weren't the most appropriate."

"Their clothes?" Daichi asked. "What about them? It's just clothes."

"Not in here," the boy answered. "Women must be covered to show their modesty. At the very least they must cover their hair. They were likely kidnapped by now," he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Kidnapped?" the four of them asked together, but Tyson's grip on the boy slipped and he dashed out the room.

"Read that message on the way to the market," Kai ordered, starting to march towards the street.

"Forget the market," Tyson said, making him stop and turn back. He was already looking down at the letter sent to them by the prince.

"We need to save them, Tyson," Daichi said a bit bewildered, about to call him out on ignoring Hilary, even if they were moody.

"They're not on the market anymore," he answered, showing the letter to the rest of them. "Their beloved prince has them."

Chapter 10 – _"A Commitment or a Dream"_

The imposing pair of metallic gates solemnly opened on its own, as its concealed cameras saw them on the other side. Unimpressed, Tyson advanced determinantly with the rest of his team, remembering all too well how he had found Hilary the last time she had been taken by some unknown person. It would be hard to find her as cold as before on that country, but who knew what that prince would do to her instead.

Six servants in shining outfits and brandishing spears greeted them outside of the palace, and guided them through the hushed hallways towards a large round room, with a standart beystadium dug in its centre. On the right side they could see a black pitfall, dividing the room cleanly in half, where frightening, deep growls were heard. On the left side of the stadium there was a slight depression that could also probably be opened.

On the other side of the stadium stood five people, and a brown skinned boy about their age sat relaxedly on a simple throne directly across them, smiling idly. Next to his throne, other than three bulky guys more or less the same age as him, likely his personal bodyguards, stood a sharp-eyed girl with a simple blue dress and a dark-pink hijab covering her hair, and a single adult man.

"Welcome, illustrious champions," the boy said, standing up from his throne fluidly. "You must know who I am, of-"

"Of course we don't," Tyson answered bitterly, shocking the person in front of him.

"What? You don't know of the great prince Molay Rachid of Saudi Arabia? Heir to the throne? Royalty the entire people respects?"

"Do I look like I care? Where's Hilary and Ells?" Tyson asked, tossing all pleasantries out the window. The prince's dark green eyes gazed at him quizzically, as if trying to decipher that strange character, but he held out a finger and nodded.

"I see. You're the type of person who goes straight to the point, Mr. Granger. I don't dislike your kind, but your lack of manners is a bit disappointing. Perhaps its simply because you're a commoner, and I can forgive that."

"Come again?"

"Achichi, bring our guests," the prince said to the girl next to him, ignoring Tyson's near-roar.

Discreetly, she vanished behind a sill and quickly returned, bringing with her two strong adult men, each holding a chain that dragged the girls by their necks. Their wrists were tied with thick, harsh ropes, and they both seemed to have stopped struggling soon before that, Hilary with a tired posture and Ells looking about like a cornered tiger, waiting for the perfect opportunity to escape. Their clothes had been swapped out for something out of an Arabic tale, transparent and smooth, even more exposing than the ones they had left the hotel with.

"Tyson!" Hilary shouted with panic on her eyes, as she noticed him on the other side of the room. He tried walking forward, but the servants promptly pointed their spears to the group, stopping them from doing anything at all.

"We needn't get hasty. Otherwise we might not get a good bargain," the prince said.

"Bargain? What bargain? You kidnapped our friends! How's that a bargain?" Tyson shouted.

"It is a bargain. It happens all the time at the market, where they were casually strolling," he answered. "I'm heir to the throne, so I'll have to bear a heir of my own. Unfortunately, I don't have a single bride, and I require a harem. I found this two young ladies so fair that I've decided to have them for myself, but my consciousness came to me. It'd be unfair to simply take them without asking, especially with all the international problems that'd raise. So we'll play beyblade for them. We'll have a best of three match, and who wins two of them is victorious."

Left with little option but to do his bidding, Tyson ended up speaking for the group, perfectly aware of the spears pointed to their throats.

"Fine, but you'd better not cheat!"

Taken aback by such a remark, the prince stared at him bewildered before recomposing, passing a hand by a dark-green streak of hair.

"Royalty never cheats."

By his command, a couple of servants worked on a device tied to a rope and lowered it until it was hanging just above the depression at the left of the stage. Prince Rachid took Hilary's chain and lead her towards it with one of his bodyguards, who took the ropes on her wrists.

Something reflected the sunlight on her hand, entering through the broad windows on the left side of the room.

"Hmm? What's this?" the prince wondered, taking her hands. "A ring? Are you engaged, miss? I'm afaid that compromise will have to be cut short."

When he tried to remove it from her finger Hilary screamed and kicked ferociously, but the strong man quickly seized her and stopped her from stuggling any further, not to hurt his prince.

"Hey, you!" Tyson shouted, riled up even more. "Leave the ring alone! Let her keep it."

The prince looked at him briefly, as if analysing the why of that response, but took the ring from her finger regardlessly.

"What?" Tyson roared.

"I'll return it to her after the match is over," he answered calmly.

"You'd better!"

"Very well, for the first match I'll bet this girl," he said, retreating from the pit, and urging one of his bodyguards into the stadium. "My player will be Mustapha Makroum. Who will you choose?"

"I'll go," Tyson said, not intimidated in the slightest by the soldier's contituition or his silver spiked hair, like metal protusions sprouting from his scalp. With both players at the ready, the servants around the device connected to the rope tied to Hilary pulled it, lifting her a couple of feet from the depression.

"Allow me to add a simple rule," the prince said, pressing a button on the side of one of his throne's arms, after he was confortably sitting on it. "If there's a draw that means no one won, so no one wins the girl. Therefore, the lions get a treat."

Roars became louder and Hilary's face panicked as the floor below her feet opened, showing the silluetes of gigantic felines pacing about, their shiny eyes looking above to their next meal.

"You're sick!" Daichi shouted.

"Chadid, you'll be our referee," the prince said, turning to last adult in the room, dressed in a simple, but expensive looking pair of brown pants and shirt. With a nod, he positioned himself next to the stadium, as close to the pit as he could and, on his mark, Makroum and Tyson launched their beyblades.

Upon their first impact Tyson knew he needed to be careful, since his opponent relied on brute force and a slip-up meant an instant toss out the stadium. However, that also meant he was extremely predictable.

Her smiling face and that spontaneous kiss on his cheek after he gave her the ring were vivid in his mind. When comparing it to her dreaded expression, glancing below her feel when not looking at the battle, almost on the verge of tears, it was like they were two different people.

"Hilary, believe in me. I'll get you out of there," Tyson said, whishing to ease her mind, without losing focus on his match. Her panic didn't disappear, but it waned a little as she answered, with an incredibly firm voice for her circumstances.

"I know you will."

Her eyes told him she was sure he'd be true to his word, and that gave him strength.

"Dragoon!"

Fed by his determination the blue dragon emerged from the beyblade.

"_We should've thought of putting her on a leash before they did."_

Any answer Tyson had prepared was silenced by the enormous lion bit-beast that rose from his foe's beyblade, like the ones quarrelling to be the first to get a taste of the slim piece of meat hanging above them.

"_We could ask them for her outfit if you fancy it so much."_

"_Smash that oversized cat!"_

"_Oh. No fun allowed? Very well. No holding back."_

Makroum's trajectory kept being obvious, and so were his attacks, strong, but nothing else. Baiting an attack, Dragoon dodged easily and pushed it back, casting it into the air and ensuring it wouldn't land on the disk with a powerful tornado.

"Victory belongs to Mr. Granger," Chadid said in a monotone voice.

For a moment a muscle contracted on the prince's forehead, but he pressed the button to close the pit while Hilary was lowered. One of the servants removed the rope from her wrists and the chain around her neck, and she flung herself into Tyson's arms as soon as he approached them, taking deep breaths to calm down and refusing to face any of the members of the Moroccan team.

Standing his ground, Tyson held out his hand towards the prince.

"What? Would you like me to shake your hand?" he asked, standing up from his throne.

"Keep dreaming. Give the ring back," he answered angrily. The royal eyed him a bit offended, but handed the ring for one of his bodyguards to give Tyson, sitting back down on his throne afterwards. With the bargain finished, he took Hilary back to the rest of the group, where he slipped the ring back on her finger, where it belonged. Rubbing her skinned wrists from the rough ropes, she began telling Kenny what had happened to her and Ells, between long pauses and sudden sobs.

"Well, you have the first victory. Congratulations," prince Rachid said in the meantime. "Let us move on to the second game."

Ellivah was equally heaved and the pit was opened beneath her feet, but her expression showed no fear whatsoever, perhaps because she already knew what to expect.

"I will chose Layla Achichi for this game. You know what to do," he said, pointing towards the disk with his head while facing the robed girl. Her posture was neutral and discreet, just as expected from a servant of the royal family, but there was a dangerous sliver of determination on her black, shining eyes.

"I'll go," Daichi said, starting to go forth. However, a strong grip held on to his arm.

"Be very careful," Kai said, looking dead serious at him. "You know what's at stake."

"What, you think I can't win? It'll be fine, I'll get Ells back to you in no time," he answered, jerking his hand off and heading for the disk.

His capacity to win wasn't what troubled him, but Daichi only got serious under very specific circumstances, and urgency was seldom one of them. If he was to underestimate that girl they would only have one more chance to rescue Ellivah, if the prince was true to his word and gave them the three matches he promised.

Just like before, the beyblades were cast into the disk, and the thrill of the game was enough for Daichi to call for his Strata Dragoon to join in the fun. Layla answered the same way, calling for a purple, red-eyed desert hare bit-beast, which was scoofed at by both the player and his bit-beast. Trying to finish the game with a direct hit, Strata Dragoon charged at full speed but, taking Tyson as inspiration, her red beyblade dodged out of the way and hit back with the strength needed to throw his towards the rope that held Ellivah, making it dangerously swing, before rebounding towards Daichi's feet afterwards.

"Victory goes to Miss Achichi."

Daichi looked to Ellivah and then back to Kai, who grit his teeth, feeling like an idiot for putting such an important thing on his shoulders.

"I-I'm sorry."

"Wait!" Kai shouted as soon as he saw Rachid stepping down from his throne, keen on claiming his prize. "You said we'd play a best of three match."

"Yes, I did. What of it?"

"None of us has two wins, and there's still one game to go. You said there'd be no draws, you've made it clear by hanging both of them over the lion pit. If you change your mind now, you'd be going against your royal word."

"You make a fair point," prince Rachid said after pondering for a moment. "But there's nothing else to bet."

"As you know, my lord, who won the game for that girl was me," Layla said in a subservient voice. "So I believe she belongs to me, and not your excellency. And, even if you had taken her for yourself, she would not be yours until you took her as a bride. I can lend her for you to bet a second time, but you'll be betting a engagement kiss. If you win you can have her, for she'll be at the hand of this servant of yours and can be commanded by both of us. But, if your excellency loses, you must restore my loss."

"A pertinent observation, Achichi. This is why I keep you close to me," the prince answered with a deep nod.

"I'm certain of it, my lord," she said with a subtle bitter tone on her voice.

"And what should I restore your loss with?" he asked, sounding a bit unconfortable.

"It's simple, my lord. You'll give me yourself."

Even the prince noticed her cheeks gaining a soft pink tone, trying to pretend her words didn't affect him.

"Allow me to explain, your excellency," Layla continued, noting his confounded expression. "Simply, this servant of yours thought of something you'd never risk losing such as your freedom, to guarantee your excellency would give his outmost during this game. So… And this humble servant of yours doubts you'll lose the game, and…"

Her sudden clumsiness made her brilliant arguments lose a bit of their reason but, once he regained his composure, as if understanding something else from her words, the prince answered.

"Very well, your reasoning is astute. I'll accept your terms. If I lose, Mr. Hiwatari will give the girl an engagement kiss and I'll be yours. If I win, I'll give her the engagement kiss and you can command her, but only if you ask permission from me first."

With a nod and a wave of his hand, the adult bodyguard lifted Ellivah up again, who let out a slight sigh of relief.

"If I may, my lord," another of the players said, starting to move into the stadium.

"No, no, no, Mohamed," prince Rachid said, producing a beyblade from the back pocket of his embroderied trousers while the pit opened one final time. "I'll oppose Mr. Hiwatari."

Another servant handed him a launcher and, as soon as both of them were prepared, on the prince's command, Chadid began his countdown.

The beyblades tore the air as they were given the signal to go and landed at the same time, dashing behind one another.

Rachid could be an arrogant prick whose only purpose with that show was feeling slightly marginally guilty with his actions, but he was a much better player than Kai had originally thought him to be. He easily witstood Dranzer's assault and pushed it back, but once Kai recovered from the surprise he held his ground and started attacking again. He tried to come up with several moves to have him at the back foot, but Rachid didn't leave himself open and blocked every one of his attempts.

"I see you've been given strategist warfare instruction, like every future monarch should have, Your Majesty" Ellivah said, seeing how Kai was struggling to come up with an effective plan against Rachid.

"Yes, I have," he answered, seemingly pleased with her comment. "I'd say you'd be a very good bride, if not for the scars Achichi claims you to bear. You are both fair and wise. Where has your knowledge come from?"

"Forced captivity, from which I was rescued by this kind team," she answered. "However, I'd prefer not to discuss the unpleasant experience. Especially not during this important game."

With a glare, she got Kai's attention and glanced up at the rope that tied her to the ceiling and the device on the floot. He followed her and turned rapidly towards the match again, but found it very hard to focus after noticing what she had shown him. The spot where Strata Dragoon had hit the rope was slowly tearing apart with Ellivah's weight, bringing slowly her closer to the hungry lions.

It was enough to bring Dranzer from his beyblade, giving it new strength and pushing back the prince's black beyblade. However, they were unable to throw it off the disk.

"What's the matter? Are you in a rush?" prince Rachid asked with the shadow of a smile while it dashed down the disk.

"If you want her that bad you'd be in a rush too, the rope's breaking," Kai answered pointing at it. With a glance he also noticed the problem, but it didn't seem to get into his mind like Kai's. That didn't mean he couldn't answer their assault in a similar fashion.

"Desert Rose!"

A graceful dark green lanner falcon rose from his beyblade and locked claws with Dranzer, just as the two beyblades mashed loudly against each other.

"_Why doesn't he care as much as you do?"_

"_He's a heartless bastard."_

"_Wouldn't that description fit you not so long ago?"_

"… _I changed."_

"_You care. For the rest of them, they grew into you, but her, it was explosive. It might be dangerous."_

Another collision and another followed, neither of them giving in or surrendering their victory.

"_She's hanging into a breaking rope and she'll be killed if we don't finish this in time!"_

"_I understand that, Kai. I'm merely trying to warn you. Thread very carefully, or your emotions might fool you into something you'll sincerely regret."_

The entire disk was cast ablaze with Dranzer's power, and a sandstorm quickly followed. Knowing the power of each other, the beyblades and the bit-beasts started to play a little bit safer, dodging assaults instead of meeting them head on.

"_What do you mean?"_

"_I cannot say with certainty. It's a feeling, of days long gone past. You've been experiencing them."_

"_The dreams?"_

A loud road got both players' attention. The lions had noticed food was coming their way, and even if Ellivah looked calm, a drop of sweat was gathering on her forehead. There was no time to be cautious. Rachid's beyblade met his full power, as Dranzer met Desert Rose's talons, sending out shock waves strong enough to swing the rope dangerously. The birds broke off and Kai sent most of his energy to Dranzer, knowing they had to end it with their next attack.

"_Take him out!"_

With a screech, the phoenix gained a burning glow and the beyblade flew with it across the stadium.

However, just as they clashed, the rope holding Ellivah snapped.

There was no time to see the end of the game. It didn't matter who won or lost as long as she survived. He ran towards the open pit and jumped. With the momemtum he managed to grab Ells but, noticing he wouldn't make it to the other side, he used the last of his strength to toss her there.

While he fell to the pit she landed safely on the other side, but Ellivah stood up in a flash and ran to the edge, uncoiling the chain around her neck. She tossed it all down the pit, where the thin lions wrestled each other for the first bite, and Kai seized it.

"Hang on tight!" she said, starting to pull him up with all strength she could muster while he climbed up the chain as well. Her effort was assisted by the strong servants on the prince's command, and he rapidly gained altitude.

However, seeing their pray escape, the lions put aside their fighting and jumped for Kai's legs. When he finally emerged from the pit, one of felines was hanging from his right leg with its sinking teeth, and Hilary screamed in horror.

"Let go, al-Mik!" Rachid shouted, lauching his beyblade towards its snout. It rebounded and the lion's mouth opened, falling down the pit with a strong thud, while the beyblade was caught by the prince's open hand above his head.

Crouching next to him, Ellivah helped Kai sit up as he breathed heavily, weak from all the blood he was losing from the claws and teeth of the hungry beasts.

"I'm impressed," prince Rachid said, putting his beyblade away. "You abandoned the game to save her and you still won."

Even in his less than stellar state of being, Kai couldn't help but be slightly surprised at Drazer still spinning on the disk, and thanked his bit-beast on the corners of his mind. Meanwhile, the bodyguard released Ellivah's restrains on her wrists and neck, and she crouched next to him again to put his arm around her neck and help him stand. His legs were uncapable of supporting his weight and he suppressed a gasp of pain. Aware that he couldn't move from that spot, Ellivah looked about, making sure they still weren't there, and asked in a demanding tone.

"Where are the medics?"

"I'd like to watch the end of the deal first," the prince said.

"What?" she asked.

"After witnessing this man's act of bravery I know he's better than I. In fact, I'm honoured he's the one who'll have you. As such, I'll make sure a proper engagement kiss is made, so no one else can take you."

"He's bleeding out!" she answered, almost begging. "We need to worry about his wellbeing before any of that!"

"My word is final, miss. The engagement shall be made first."

Looking from Ells to Rachid, Kai knew they wouldn't go anywhere without doing his bidding, and he just needed to get out of there fast.

"How does that engagement kiss work?" he asked weakly, even though he already had a pretty good idea of what he needed to do.

"It's but a kiss on the lips," the prince answered. Even though it was hard to tell with the slightly foggy sight, Ells seemed to blush at the words. He couldn't understand why that, of all things, brought a reaction of the sort from her, but since she wouldn't take the initiative he'd have to do it. He had never kissed a girl before, or even bothered to think about it, but since it was with her and not someone like Hilary, who'd complicate it beyond sanity, he didn't mind at all.

"If that's all it takes."

Before the prince could say another word or Ellivah stop him, he put a hand on her cheek to turn her face towards his and kissed her. Her shocked eyes met his for a moment, but he closed them and surrendered to the sensations that invaded him. They were much softer than he had imagined. It was a bit of euphoria, feeling that, her skin on the palm of his hand, her arm around his torso holding him uncertainly, and her slender, firm body pressed against his. Why had he never thought of doing that before?

The pain from his injuries gradually disappeared, being replaced by another, strange sensation, as if the opposite of pain, while at the same time his energy returned and he found it easier to stand on his own.

Suddenly their lips were separated and Ellivah started to slip from his arms, but Kai had enough spirit left in him to grab her before she fell down to the floor, opening his eyes to see what had happened. Her whole weight was pulling her to the floor, as if her legs were crumbling down, so he helped her sit on the floor and both stared curiously at her legs, finding frightening red stains seep into the soft tissue of the semi-transparent blue trousers the prince had picked for her to wear. When Kai pulled them up, there were wounds just like his his on her legs, but when he inspected them nothing was left there other than the torn trousers, stained with drying blood.

It was like his wounds were transferred to her.

"That was the most beautiful engagement kiss I have ever seen."

Brought back to reality with the prince's voice, Kai looked up around them. Altough the prince himself bore an unreadable expression, Layla looked at him unsure of what to think or do, and Tyson, Kenny, Hilary and Daichi stared at the two of them with their jaws dropped.

"Very well. Let the medics come," the prince said. He clapped thrice and a servant with a medical kit emerged from the behind the sill next to the throne, quickly crouching next to Ells and seeing to her wounds.

"Well, Achichi, it seems like we also have a couple of things to settle," the prince said, drawing their attention towards him and the girl he faced with a composed, subtle smile.

"I-I didn't mean a-anything by my words, my lord," she said, stumbling on her words again.

"You've never been a good liar. I was always the one who had to come up with the excuses when we messed around the palace all those years ago," he said, crossing his arms. Layla hung her head down in embarrassment, but didn't dare to deny him, and he continued. "You could've said something sooner. Of all the girls on the country and outside of it, I'd never force you to become my bride. If I asked you to do it you'd have to obey, and I'd never know whether you fancy me or not."

His last sentence was said in one fell swoop, like a nervous horse galloping from some scary shadow.

"My lord, I don't believe I understand-"

"By the All Mighty Allah, girl, do you love me or not?" Rachid asked impatiently.

"Hmm, I, well, huh… Y-yes," she suttered, but then she repeated, in a firm voice. "Yes, I do."

"That's all I needed to know."

Having said that, he robbed the girl of her lips, and the group's jaw dropped a second time.

"M-my lord, w-w-what, what are you doing?" Layla said, pulling herself from him.

"Isn't it obvious? You'll be my bride," he answered as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Me, a bride?"

"Of course."

"But why me? I'm but a humble servant, I'm honoured to work for your royal family and-"

Pressing her lips with his index finger Rachid silenced her.

"The only reason I didn't do this sooner was because I sought your consent more than anything. You've never said anything, so I believed you didn't want me, and I had to start looking for other brides. Now that I have you I don't need a harem."

When he kissed her again she didn't stop him.

Thinking that was getting too lame for him, Kai turned back to the medic who, after giving Ells local anesthesic and stitching the deepest wound, was just about done wrapping her leg in a comfortable bandage, claiming he needed to replace it before she went to bed that night.

While Kai helped her up, putting her arm around his neck like she had done with him, Rachid spoke at the group again.

"You're welcome to stay in the palace for the night because of all the trouble we've caused you. I'll have your luggage brought here, and tomorrow Layla and I will escort you to the airport."

Even though Rachid was one of the most dangerous excentrics they had ever crossed paths with, as long as he was true to his word and Layla, the palace was the most confortable place for them to stay, especially with a hurt team member, and they accepted his offer.

_Night was high and she was gazing at the moon, waiting for an answer that couldn't come by no one's will but hers._

_A figure blotted out the moon for a moment, making her jump to her feet. She'd have to fight by herself if she was going to be attacked. However, the figure landed between the trees, darkned by the penumbra and, while it stared her down, it held no evil intent towards her. The spirit turned its back on her and walked among the trees, as if showing her the way._

"Do you really think we should follow it?"_ Dawn inquired._

"Yes. We might learn something."

_Soon they reached a meadow, where the spirit vanished, letting a single figure stand alone against her, enveloped in dark robes waving with the grass in the wind. She knew her, the secret weapon presented to her by her adversaries._

"_Edonisu. Priestess of Dark," she said. "What do you seek from me?"_

"_I'm here with warning and advice to you," she spoke with a very thin, but determined voice. "I'm meant to die tomorrow. This is something that I simply know. With my death, you shall die as well. This is also something that I simply know."_

_Not letting that slide, Dawn materialized almost on her own behind her and bared its teeth against the robed woman._

"_Was that a threat?" she asked._

"_You will not die by my hand, nor will your death be as swift as mine. You'll have time. Use it wisely."_

"I'm still not going anywhere."

"_How do you know all this?" she asked._

"_Seek a wise woman with a red crystal from the South and she will tell you what she told me," she stopped for a moment, as if reminiscing about something, before continuing. "Which one of your warriors do you love? Is it the Warrior of the Blue East?"_

"Spot on."

"_What kind of question is that?" she asked, feeling her heart almost jump from out of her chest._

"_It matters not," she said, shaking her head. "Tell him. Let him know your feelings. Take my words to heart, Priestess Hina, you will die. Don't make the same mistake I did. Be happy with him for as long as you can."_

"_You love someone?" as she felt her point of view change, her tone changed as well. "Run. Run with him somewhere, you don't have to die!"_

"_I cannot," she answered, shaking her head again. "The shackles that bind me are stronger than steel. They're impossible to break."_

_That's why that powerful woman was on their service. They were holding someone dear to her, perhaps the person she loved. If Tai was on the same situation…_

"_Prepare yourself. Tomorrow we'll face one another," she said while her winged spirit materialized next to her. She climbed swiftly on its back and it took flight, leaving her and Dawn alone with the chilling breeze._

Waking up in the middle of the night, Hilary noticed Ells wasn't on the bed next to hers. Wondering on her whereabouts, she pulled up the sheets and left to the carpeted hallways. The palace was a maze of rooms and halls and, just as she started thinking about asking a guard for help would be the best course of action, she took a turn and saw Ellivah sitting on the floor, leaning against a wall and staring with melancholy at a paiting hanging high on the other wall, as if dwelling inside some old memory. It showed two silent silluettes sitting on the edge of a lake, reflecting a shining full moon.

"Ells?" Hilary called, and she turned with a bit of surprise.

"Hilary? What are you doing here?"

"I didn't see you in the room and I got scared. Why are you up this late at night?"

"I'm sorry. I was thinking about something."

"About that kiss? Yeah, if it was me I don't think I'd be able to look at his face again."

It was the only time she'd seen Kai actually be gentle, with the way he held her, and she was sure it was be enough to spin any girl's head.

"No, it's not about that," Ellivah said shaking her head, but dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Huh? It's not?" Hilary asked in disbelief.

"No. Even though it was my first, and… Well, I'm not used to this sort of thing," she said, letting her cheeks redden slightly, but she turned back to the painting and her face steadied. "I was thinking about a legend. You must know it, it's also about Dawn's medallion."

"About the meda- The legend of the two priestesses?" she asked. "I thought no one knew about it but the Saint Shield's tribe and my family."

"Yes," she said with a nod. "I'm also aware of the legend. They researched it because of Dusk. I don't think you know this, but the Priestess of Light and the Priestess of Dark were half-sisters, daughters of the same mother who was cursed by a witch, who envied her beauty. The curse stated her firstborn child would bring disgrace to her family, and she would watch it all without being able to stop it. When she became pregnant, she travelled to another village to have her baby, who became the Priestess of Dark, and she gave her to an old couple to keep her away from her family. Her husband died shortly afterwards, and she wed another man with whom she had a second daughter, who became the Priestess of Light. Maybe the Priestessess could've been good sisters to each other, friends, if they hadn't been cursed and forced to fight one another."

"No, I didn't know that," Hilary said slowly when she was sure Ells was done with her tale, still taking in her words. "So, the reason the Priestess of Dark had to fight was because of that witch?"

Something flashed deep in Ellivah's eyes, even though it was hard to tell what, fixated on the obscured painting.

"I don't think she had a choice in the first place," she whispered, the meaning of her words lost to Hilary. Then her voice regained its volume, after a long, slow silence. "If we were all reincarnations of the people on the legend, whom do you think I'd be? Do you think we'd be able to escape our fate, or do you think we'd get dragged down by jealousy again?"

"Huh… I don't know, Ells. Asking all of a sudden, I really can't say."

"It's alright. I may be overthinking it," she said, standing up from the floor with the help of a comfortable crutch the royal medic had provided to help her walk around with her wounds better. "We should go back to sleep. Tomorrow'll be another long day."

Although Ellivah left the hall, swiftly as if she was more than fine, Hilary didn't follow her, gazing at the painting and wondering what was its connection to the legend, if any.

Her train of thought was stopped when she heard footsteps on the hall, opposite from the direction she had come from, and found Kai turn the corner towards her.

"Oh, what are you doing here?" Hilary asked, feeling slightly relieved.

"Heard steps in the hallway and came to check. I still don't trust that prince," he answered. "You?"

"I woke up and Ells wasn't on her bed, so I went to look for her and I found her here, looking at this painting," she said, pointing at it. "She was thinking about something from the legend of the two priesstessess, she asked me who I thought she was if we were reincarnations of the people from it."

When she glanced at Kai, if only for a moment, it felt like he was being drawn into the panting, as if he recognized the scenery, but he turned back to Hilary before she could be sure she wasn't just seeing things.

"Can you tell me more about that legend?" he asked.

During their outing with the Saint Shields it was something Tyson had demanded to know from them, but they all kept the story to its bare minimum and, recognizing it as being the same as her mother had told her, Hilary hid what she knew not to get in their way. On the other side of the world and to someone like Kai, who was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, she felt it was fine to let him in on it. She told him how the two priestesses faced one another in an unspeakably cruel war, about the five Celestial Warriors and the Counsellor of the People, how, according to Ells, the two women were cursed by an evil witch in her jealousy, and about how it all ended, with the Priestess of Dark crossed by the sword, the Priestess of Light in the arms of her beloved.

"My mom said the Priestess of Light's medallion was passed down into our family. I don't know how much of the story is actually true, but Dawn was sealed there. She's real, at the very least," she said, wrapping her story. With a nod, Kai looked back at the paiting for a moment, reflecting upon something before quickly turning back to Hilary.

"I see. Thanks for telling me."

"Can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Can you take me back to my room? I'm totally lost, I should've gone back with Ells," she answered, laughing nervously but keeping her voice low.

"Come with me," he said, taking the lead with a very subtle sigh.

After a short while they arrived at a hallway Hilary was familiar with and they split up. As she entered the room she was sharing with Ells, she found her already laying on her bed and, as silently as possible, she slipped into her sheets and fell asleep again.

_The next morning, the middle of war. Everything was fast and loud as the wounded arrived, man and beast and spirit, and she could think of little else other than healing them, protecting them, and watching them return to battle in glory, sacrificing themselves for their worthy cause. There had been no energy to spare and come up with something to protect Edonisu, to delay her fate. They had no idea how it would even come to her and, ultimately, it was the last barrier to their success. Asking her army to refrain from attacking her when her message had been delivered so late and the attack had happened to swiftly was asking them to put their necks under the gallows and wait for its release._

_There had to be something they could do, but more people were coming, barriers had to be strengthened, the black hound had to be stopped from attacking their wounded._

"Hina, look, over there!"

_With Dawn's warning she lifted her head from the pierced wing she was healing and looked up. Dranzer was gaining altitude after Kaito had landed, untouched, next to the throne where the Priestess was chained, the spirit that held it fallen to the snow. Shielding them both with her dark power, she let the wind blow back her robes and reveal her face._

_It was Ells._

_More than that, it made his face twist in unspeakable rage._

"_KAITO, NO!"_

_She could not make herself be heard. His blade pierced her through and through, and returned to his side covered in her blood. At the same time, something punctured her chest, like a tiny needle that vanished in a second, but still leaving its wound deep inside of her._

_After standing for a moment, Edonisu fell over his body, almost like holding him close to her, before falling back in a single, gentle motion and a sound softened by the snow on the ground._

_Dropping to her knees, she couldn't even think straight for a moment, gazing into the gray, snowy horizon above them. She could've prevented that so easily if she had known…_

"_Hina! Shields, Hina!"_

_Brought back to reality thanks to Makoto's voice, she looked back to Kaito and found him being protected from the lords' men by a handful of crying maidens. Even if she didn't understand why they circled him or why they wept, she and Dawn lifted a powerful shield around them, letting Dranzer descend again and, after he jumped on his back, return him from the heart of enemy lines._

"She could've tricked us_," Dawn said._

"Then why didn't I feel any deception on her voice?"

"Maybe she was the one being tricked, and she thought what she told us was the truth_," she answered, trying to calm her mind. "_We can't give up_."_

_Her best friend's words and reassurance helped her stand back on her feet._

"You're right. Let's end this war. And then, we'll find the wise woman with the red crystal from the South."

_However, her heart didn't completely ease up, feeling the possibility of losing the time she had yearned for with Tai closing in on them, like the black in a room with a dying candle._

It was dawn when Hilary woke up, and Ellivah still slept on her bed. For the first time, she had completely forgetten she was just having a dream, sharing Hina's fear and sliver of hope up until she opened her eyes and saw the top of her lavish bed.

Edonisu had died by the sword of the man she loved.

When she glanced to Ells again, Hilary finally understood why she had been thinking about the legend. She was having the same sort of dreams, where Hilary was the Priestess of Light, but she was the Priestess of Dark. Ellivah was worried about their fate. Both her and Hilary were relieving past memories, if that sounded believable, and Ells was scared of bringing tragedy to them again.

But the circumstances were so different between the past and what was happening in the present, it seemed impossible for anything of the sort to happen. She had never even been their enemy, unlike Edonisu, even if she had been forced to fight against Hina. Besides, there was something more pressing that Hilary had to think about.

Hina's feelings towards Tai had been crystal clear during the last part of the dream. She loved him deeply.

What about her?

She wanted to shake her head to expel those thoughts, but she didn't. She had ran away from them for far too long. She had to think about it.

Suddenly she saw movement on the corner of her eye and Hilary almost jumped to the cieling when Ells sat on her bed and yawned weakly.

A couple of hours later they were at the airport, saying goodbye to prince Rachid and Layla but, swimming in her thoughts, it had all felt like an instant for Hilary. Still absent minded, she sat by the window on their designated row on the plane, and glanced at Kai, Ells and Daichi sitting on the middle row and fastening their seatbelts. According to her mother's tale, Edonisu and Kaito had fallen in love with each other, never telling, but always knowing. What about them? Especially after the kiss the previous day, if it hadn't happened yet…

Her train of thought was interrupted when Tyson sat next to her, with Kenny filling the last seat on the rown, and she looked outside the window to hide her thoughtfull face. Nervously rubbing the ligature marks on her wrists, she thought of everything she had gone through together with Tyson. Soon she found herself denying it again, but forced her mind to open up to that new concept, and accepted the conclusion she had evaded for so long.

She was in love with him.

Looking at him from the corner of her eye as Tyson discussed something with Kenny about his new Dragoon, she didn't know why he had chosen that seat, but she didn't really care. Even if she bugged him for a reason as to why he was sitting next to her, she knew, deep down, that she was happy he did it regardless. But how did he feel about her? Sometimes it was like he liked her too, as when he gave her the ring, but others he acted or talked to her like all he wanted was to push her away, like when he claimed she didn't know how to cook.

It had been too much work to make sense of her own heart, and she needed a break from that. Let him make sense of his.

Chapter 11 – "_The Dark of the Matinée"_

Just like he was expecting, Max found Rick at the alley where he made his name as the king of the streets and approached with a simple sigh.

"You know you can just train with us back at the PPB, right?" he asked while Rick made short work over his opponent with another cheap beyblade.

"Sorry kid, but this is better for me."

Without further ado, Rick's bey strung a dozen of lightning fast attacks, impossible for the amateur he was facing to deal with, and he was swiftly kicked out of the ring.

"This isn't even fair."

"So what? They're here to experience me first hand, I'm just doing what they want," Rick said, looking about for another sparring partner. "But now it looks like they got cold feet. Thanks, kid."

"Yet another foe swiftly approaches."

Puzzled, everyone on the alley looked up to see a guy in a cape, standing with his arms crossed atop the railing of an emergency staircase.

"The hell's that guy doing?" someone wondered aloud.

Without wasting any more time, he produced a simple launcher and an orange beyblade and cast it towards the railing where he was standing. As it climbed down the bey gained speed and power, but it was easy to tell what the guy wanted to do, and Rick prepared himself to dodge as soon as it jumped from the railing and into the beystadium. Everything went as he was thought, except for a flash of dark and a boost of speed beyond anything he had ever seen. Rick's beyblade was catapulted into a wall with the collison and shattered into pieces while the newcomer's beyblade spun silently in the centre of the dish.

"A victory in motion. A new champion has been crowned."

"Who the hell are you?" Rick yelled. "Your bey isn't normal, there's something else to it, isn't there?"

"A black flash…" Max muttered.

"It matters not how the old champion is downed. It's what I have always heard. It appears you are unfit of representing our country in the grand tournament, and another player would be preferred."

Max prepared his Draciel and pointed his launcher straight at the guy.

"If you wanted to be a part of the team you should've been to the qualifiers."

"Back off, kid, this guy's beef's with me," Rick snarled.

"Exactly. If he has a beef with you, he has a beef with me," Max answered, without taking his eyes away from the caped man. "We're a team, Rick, if one of us gets a challenge we'll all answer."

"A wise choice, but a lousy field for our expertise."

The man jumped from the railing into the roof of the building and his bey jumped from the disk and followed his path.

"Wait!"

Several of the bystanders followed Max and Rick as they ran to try and find out where the man had hidden. All they could see was the beyblade as it hopped from rooftop to rooftop, and soon more and more people joined their pursuit, mostly out of curiosity as to why two of the best players in the world were running around on the streets.

Soon the bey they were following dropped from another emergency staircase, rebounded on a window frame and landed on top of garbage truck. From there it used several cars waiting on a red sign to cross the road, and vanished inside one of the smaller entrances of Central Park, still followed by a considerable crowd.

Eventually the group found the beyblade still spinning, with the same energy as if it had just been cast inside one of the beystadiums of the park, being closely observed by a group of children that had been playing there.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoyed this tour of our lovely New York City."

"Show yourself and fight us, you freak!"

With a carefree laugh, the man dropped down from a tree, landing right next to the dish where his bey was.

"Such language is inappropriate in front of the children."

The cold tone in which he said that simple sentence made Max shiver.

"Rick, get them away from here," he asked, taking Draciel out of his pocket.

"I'm the one fighting that guy, back off!"

"I have no interest in facing a foe so inconsistent."

"I'll show you just how inconsistent I can be!"

"Please, I have a very bad feeling about this, you have to be feeling it too," Max whispered, turning to him and stopping Rick from taking another step. He snarled, but glanced at the orange bey and felt it unmistakably. Something that he couldn't quite put his finger on, but definitely spelled trouble.

He turned away and started shouting at the children to leave, who started shouting back how they wanted to watch the match, too, while Max turned towards his opponent and prepared Draciel for launch. He knew it was a trap and it was meant for his bit-beast, but in the middle of the most crowded park in the world he felt he had no choice but to take the bait.

The orange bey made no effort to evade the initial hit, but all it did was bounce them both back in a circular motion around the dish. He hit Draciel a couple of times, as if testing his defences, but quickly escalated his attacks, each dangerously closer Draciel's weak points than the last. Max grit his teeth, but it was nothing he wasn't prepared against and his fortresss whitstood the assault, making his opponent click his tongue.

"You know why I'm here, don't you?"

"Wanting a good match isn't enough?"

"Doesn't your Sacred Bit-Beast want to come out to play?"

"It's a little shy."

"Right. Maybe this will set the mood. DarkDepths!"

With a dark jolt a bright red octapus emerged from the orange beyblade and tossed aside Draciel with little effort. It landed on the edge of the dish and continued circling around, but the stranger's attention seemed to be caught by something else and he smirked. His bit-beast turned the same way, towards a group calling its master names and demanding him go to places less appropriate, and charged towards them.

Max acted without thinking.

"No, stop! Draciel!"

The great turtle rushed out the bit and cut off DarkDepths, making it crash into the trees while the bystanders backed away. The orangle bey, having used the dish as a catapult to propel itself to someone's face, was knocked back to it by Max.

"What are you thinking? Are you out of your mind?" Max shouted while Draciel landed inside the dish as well.

"I was hoping you weren't," the stranger said, his smirk unfaded.

Something embraced Max with the strenght of a bear, constricting his arms and making it hard for him to breathe. There was nothing around him other than air, but the force kept growing and he coughed, unable to move. Rick said something from behind him, but he couldn't even tell what it was.

"I wonder who's going to break first," his opponent said. "You, or your bit-beast."

He managed to turn his head to see how Draciel was being constricted by the octapus, roaring in pain.

"Draciel…"

"_They will pay! I'll get free!"_

"_Now! He's got close!"_

The orange bey approached for another undefended hit, but Max dodged the attack and hit it from behind instead, pushing its momentum until it was almost out of the stadium. Draciel's neck stretched down until it could bite one of the tentacles. The octapus softened the grip enough that it could grab a tentacle and use it to turn the creature around to its head and then fall on its back. The grip on Max vanished and he took several breaths.

However, the bey was still spinning.

"No wonder you're considered on the best players in the world. You can take a beating."

"You don't understand what you're doing," Max panted.

"Of course I do. I'll get rid of you, take Draciel, and I'll pay my due. Then I'll be free for the world to rule."

"Cut those stupid rhymes!" someone from the crowd shouted.

"Attacking the player is the lowest you can go!"

"Get out of our city or we'll kick you out, freak!"

With but a glance at them, the stranger started laughing and cut the air with his arm.

"You lowly scum!"

His bey used the dish as a ramp again while Dark Depths pushed Draciel away and chased after the crowd.

"_Not again…"_

"_We don't have a choice."_

While Draciel managed to block the way, making both beys drop to the floor, the tortoise was embraced again, only that time Max felt something force its way inside of him and to his stomach, paralizing both him and Draciel from agony. Rick called for them as soon as he realized something was seriously wrong that time, and prepared Rock Bison for launch. That freak had gotten on his nerves, but that was crossing the line.

Dark Depths tossed Draciel aside and Max collapsed, but soon the orange bey was surrounded by dozens of amateurs and one pissed professional.

"You're dead, mate!"

The stranger only laughed as his bit-beast turned to the crowd again, but Rock Bison knocked it against a tree before he could even blink. It only got him to laugh more, as if he was slowly losing his sanity.

"_This guy…"_

"_This bit-beast, this thing is destroying his mind."_

"_I'll give you everything. You have to stop it."_

"_But then you…"_

"_I'll be fine. Please, I'm counting on you Draciel."_

As the octapus got back up a shadow made it look up to Draciel's elbow. It crashed full force between its eyes and caused a pile of dust to kick up from the blast. They had won from that and he knew it, but Max had used too much of his energy in that attack. He usually did when he was desperate.

He let his eyes shut and lost track of everything around him.

Chapter 12 – _"Clash of Gangs"_

There was sun, mild heat and joyful energy on women's shouting and fast paced music all around her. It was contagious to the point of losing her way and getting split up from the group.

Altough Rio de Janeiro was mostly a welcoming city, Hilary had heard the stories about the favelas and street gangs that thrived there. Listening to their recepcionist's advice to wear as cheaply as possible, Hilary had gone out with some old jeans, a worn t-shirt and flip flops, and at least no one bothered her while she looked for the way back to the hotel where she and the rest of the team were staying. She tried to ask for directions to a woman behind a fruit stall, but she didn't recognize the name of the hotel. However, she gave her two guavas, even though Hilary insisted on paying for them, saying she should have something to eat when she got hungry.

Looking at the humble people and their cheerfulness made Hilary doubt for a while that there was a gang problem in Brazil, thinking that, like many other rumors about foreign countries, they were nothing but stereotypes spewn out of hate from a select few.

But, as she mused about it, she turned a corner and found the sun blotted out by thick slabs, the carefree residents gone.

"Estás feito, puto. Agora que te apanhamos sozinho vais morrer," someone said, prompting Hilary to hide behind some garbage containers and peek at the group of three further down the street. They spoke Portuguese so she couldn't understand what they were saying, but she could tell that two older, taller and bulkier teenagers were brandishing knives against the third one, shorter and lankier, with the same tanned skin and dark hair but sharp eyes with tones of green and yellow, like those from a feral cat.

Feeling she needed to intervene before they could actually hurt him, talking in dangerously fierce tones to each other, Hilary picked up a metal pipe from the floor next to the trash cans and silently approached them.

When the smaller boy took notice of her she took a finger to her lips, and he turned back to the other two and said something else. Pissed with his words, they pulled their knives back, ready to stab him, but Hilary's pipe came down first on one of their backs. When the other one turned around to see what had happened, the boy punched him on his stomach and kicked him in his groins in quick sucession, before grabbing Hilary's hand and running out of there with her.

They raced for several minutes among obscure streets before emerging on a busy avenue, where the boy suddenly stopped and let go of Hilary, letting her recover her breath.

"You're not from here," he asked with accented, but understandable English, sitting down on a crate next to a wall. "Why did you save me?"

"You were about to get stabbed, I couldn't just stand there and do nothing," she answered, feeling a bit indignant with his casual question. "You could at least thank me."

For her great fury, the boy started laughing uncontrollably.

"Hey, what's so funny?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"It's just that… I don't think anyone… saved someone from the streets… and just said that, like it's so easy," he said between laughs, before calming down and continuing. "You're a mystery. They could've attacked you, I could take advantage of you right now, and you still saved me."

"You're not going to take advantage of me," Hilary answered, still angry and starting to think she shouldn't have done anything for him.

"No, I'm not. Not when you're my Anita Garibaldi."

"Your what? My name's Hilary Tachibana, not Anita."

"Hilary? It's an interesting name," he answered.

"What about you? What's your name?" she asked, feeling the last of her nerves wane away.

"Olhos de Lince. I think it's Lynx Eyes in English."

"That can't be your real name."

"It's not. It's Chico Marighella, but no one calls me that anymore, not since I joined the Rio Gang."

"You're from one of those gangs that steal and kill people?" she asked, in a bit of astonishment.

"We steal, but we don't kill. Filhos da Baía kill people, like those two wanted to do," he said, pointing with his head back the way they had come from.

"Oh."

There was nothing else Hilary could think of saying. Someone who seemed and talked like an ordinary boy in every way was actually a criminal?

Suddenly her stomach grumbled, and she turned for the bag she had been given before.

"Huh, do you want guava?" she said, showing him the fruit.

"Guava?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah. You're Brazilian and you don't know what it is?"

"I know what it is, but I don't know why you're asking me. We were talking about gangs and now we're talking about guava?"

"My stomach's complaining. I'm starting to get hungry," she answered.

With another content laugh, Chico accepted one of them.

"You're a mystery," he repeated. "I knew you were my Anita."

"I told you, I'm Hilary. Who's this Anita, anyway?"

"It's just an expression," he said with a shrug.

"Have it your way."

They drolled over the sweet guavas and cleaned their hands on their clothes without worrying much. Even if he claimed to be a criminal, it was easy to hang around Chico, which was a rare achievement for Hilary. He quickly guessed that she was lost, and when she told him she was a part of the Japanese beyblade team he guided her through the streets, asking her enthusiastically all about the team and how they thought they would do in the championship. From the city's Beyblade Stadium, where they had ended up on, even though Hilary already knew where the hotel was she let Chico continue to lead her, answering all of his questions. He seemed to be quite a fan of the sport, with the passionate way he talked about the games he had seen to choose the Brazilian team, but also about the previous year's championship with Tyson and the rest of the guys.

As they split up by the entrance of the hotel, Chico kneeled before Hilary and kissed the back of her hand like a proper gentleman. Then he waved goodbye, calling her his Anita again.

After asking the recepcionist where they were, Hilary found the team on a contiguous room, thinking about what to do regarding her absence and the fact that the sun was about to set.

"Hilary!" Kenny said, noticing her approaching and making them all turn their heads her way.

"Hey, guys, sorry, I got lost," she said while the relief spread across their faces.

"Where have you been?" Tyson asked, whose solace quickly morphed into irritation.

"I don't know. I was lost for a reason, right? Because I didn't know where I was," she grumbled back. "I'm tired. Call me when it's time for dinner."

Ignoring the rest of Tyson's remarks, she climbed up towards the rooms and dropped down on her bed, thinking she'd like to meet Chico again to take her away from that loud, annoying brat that messed up with her head so much.

A couple of hours later Ellivah peeked into the room to tell her they would eat in the hotel's restaurant. Feeling a bit more refreshed, Hilary joined them and then practiced with the team for the matches they'd have the following day. She never played against Daichi or Tyson, but she had a couple of games against Kai and Ells, who could play fairly well even sitting down to spare her still wounded legs.

Their games would be held the next morning, so they all climbed up to go to sleep after a while. After lunch with the Brazilian team, they would go back to the airport and catch a flight for their final destination.

_With a sigh of relief, she put down the quill and waved at the people gathered on the field below. A treaty had just been signed to celebrate peace between the Priestess of Light and her Celestial Warriors, and the Emperor of the country and all of his subordinate lords. The war was over and their goal had been reached, managing to guarantee better conditions for the people living under the Emperor's rule and abolishing all forms of slavery in the land, with severe punishment for any and all lord who was found abusing his or her workers._

_Everything about that should make her feel happy, and it did. But she felt weaker, as if her energy had been slipping away, or worse, as if the war had been what had given it to her._

_However, deep down, she knew exactly why that was happening. Why she felt more and more afraid with every step she found harder to take._

_When Dawn vanished inside of her after she and her friends landed on the mansion where they had made their home, alongside many other people, where their entire quest had started after she and Kenichi had saved Tai, she could hardly listen to her spirit wondering if she was all right. Blaming it half-heartly on being tired from the long trip, she thanked Tai for opening the gate and crossed into the outer garden. The brezee suddenly turned cold, even it was midday at the beginning of spring, and her muscles twitched in pain. Was she getting a cold?_

_No, far from it._

_Even the voices from the people around her were distant, and their faces became cloudy. Maybe she was falling down._

_Listening to the voices of her friends call for her name in worry, her eyes closed and she let the dark take her._

Wasn't it enough to have her own problems, why did she have to dream about a dead person's problems?

Trying not to think about it, Hilary confirmed it was time to get up and took a quick shower, letting the water wash away her troubles. It was tricky to bathe while trying to keep her wrists as dry as possible, but she had to manage, knowing it would be worse if she scratched them. Before getting dressed she reapplied the bandages on her wrists, slipped the amethyst ring on her finger and covered it in a thick bandaid to hide it. Then she picked some better clothes than what she had wore the previous day. They would be playing in front of an audience, after all.

When the entire team was together they had breakfast and travelled to the stadium, in a van big enough for the six of them and a bodyguard appointed to them. As expected, the stadium was filled to the brim with people dying to see their home team play against the world champions. Before playing, the six members from each team greeted each other next to the beystadium and waved to the crowd around them, formenting their applause.

Their captain was Fábio, a young man with tanned skin and grey, intelligent eyes, handsome enough to belong in a soap opera, and their technician was an adult that felt more like a tourist, wearing colours too bright and using a titanic camera to fotograph the matches. The other players were Hélder, Maribel, Sol, and Soan, the spare player who looked like a tanned, blue-eyed blond surfer.

They would be playing three matches regardless of the outcome of each individual match, and the Brazilian team wanted to play with the duo format that would be used for the championship, so Tyson and Daichi would play first against Fábio and Maribel. Her long, golden hair and good proportions could be good enough to catapult her into the runway world, but Daichi didn't care and Tyson recovered fast from his first impression.

They were just starting to get used to playing as a duo, but Fábio and Maribel, besides their good looks, had great coordination going for them. Once again Daichi overestimated his adversaries, even with Tyson shouting at him not to, but when he was tossed out he took Maribel with him. Even though Fábio didn't have a bit-beast, he was good enough to pressure Tyson into using his Dragoon, scoring the win with more difficulty than he'd like to admit. Afterwards they all shook hands and cleared the way for the next two doubles.

Ellivah had refused to be a part of the main team to draw the least amount of attention possible, and she was appointed their spare player. So, facing against Kai and Hilary would be Sol, a black-skinned girl, and Hélder, a red-haired guy so pale it felt like he was sick. Because her wrists still hurt, Hilary's launch wasn't as good as it should be, but she managed to keep Dawn steady and help Kai take down their opponents. Hoping her launch hadn't been bad enough that everyone had noticed it, she left for the team bench while Tyson joined Kai for the third game.

Fábio had even better coordination with Sol than with Maribel, but they still couldn't best the blue dragon and his player, giving the audience a game to remember.

"Well, it shows why you guys are world champions," Fábio said when they all met next to the beystadium again. "It was an honor facing you."

"Well, we can't be best at everything, right?" Hélder said with a shrug. "We're the best at football, carnival, models, and food. Let Japan take the best bladers."

"When we meet at the world championship we'll be even better. I'll practice everyday so that I don't get defeated, you'll see," Sol said closing a fist in front of her face in a challenging pose. Meanwhile, Maribel, muttered to herself, struggling to accept her defeat.

"Come and have lunch with us," Soan said. "I know the best places in Rio, and then we can go and take you to the airport for your flight."

Accepting their invitation, both teams split up to change the sweaty clothes from the matches into something a bit more pristine, before meeting back at the hotel where the Japanese team was staying to go out and eat.

Once she was ready, Hilary climbed down the stairs to the reception, where she met Tyson with a white medical kit, leaning over a wall nearby.

"What's that for, Tyson?" she asked when he noticed her, pointing with her head to the box on his hand.

"It's for you," he answered, blocking her from taking the last step down. "You had a bad launch, but you were fine during practice last night. I think you need to change your bandages. Show me those wrists."

"You noticed my launch?"

"It was hard not to."

"No one said anything, so I thought…"

"Yeah, but I noticed," he said before she could continue, sitting down with her on the steps and taking one of her arms. As he uncovered the bandages his face became more surprised, and not in the best way. "My God, Hilary, this is all red and swollen. Why did you let get like this?"

"You're just exaggerating, Ells is a lot worse and I've seen your ankle twice the size when we were on that deserted island with the Psykicks," she said, in a not too convincing voice

"It's not an excuse," Tyson said, opening the medical kit and rummaging inside. He disinfected both her wrists and covered them with fresh bandages, with so much care that it made Hilary blush as she peeked at his concentrated face. She liked him to give her his full attention, making her feel cherished even if that wasn't exactly the truth. Before the rest of the group arrived he was done and had handed the medical kit back to the hotel's receptionist.

A limo drove next to the hotel with the Brazilian team to pick them up for lunch. It was spacious and comfy on the inside, and drove them smoothly to the half-hidden restaurant with great traditional food that Soan recommended. Only him and Hélder were from Rio. Sol lived in São Paulo, and Fábio and Maribel had come from Recife. People from all over the country had gathered in their capital for the eliminations, but they had proven to be the best and were just as thrilled as the Japanese to participate in the championship.

They wanted to pay the bill, at least until they saw how much Tyson and Daichi ate, but they still refused Hilary's help when she said she's pitch in, saying they were still their guests, even if they had bigger stomachs than they had originally thought.

While the limo drove them to the airport they kept talking to each other and having a good time, but it suddenly stopped in the middle of the road. When they looked outside, they saw the car was getting surrounded by several young men, brandishing guns of all sorts against the windows.

"What's going on?" Kenny asked, feeling trapped inside the car.

"It's a street gang. I don't know what they want from us," Maribel answered with a scared voice.

"We want one person, and then we'll leave you alone," shouted one of them, loud enough that he was clear through the car's windows. "Hand over Hilary Tachibana."

At the mention of her name, she shivered. What if those were the Filhos da Baía gang that Chico had told her about, the one that opposed his? How had they found out about her?

"Why do they want you?" Tyson asked her.

"They must have a reason, they don't just come after someone in specific like that," Soan said.

"What did you do, Hilary?" Ellivah asked.

"I-I stopped them from stabbing someone," she stuttered. Was it true that they killed people? Maybe her family was cursed after all.

"Toss her out, we don't want trouble with these people," the driver said, after lowering the window between him and the long backseat.

"No! Only over my dead body!" Tyson yelled back before he was finished with his sentence.

Hilary didn't expect such a reaction from him, but her fear dimished slightly with it.

"Ok, you both get out."

"They're our guests, we're not sending them out to the vultures," Fábio answered determinantly.

"Hilary Tachibana! Right now!"

The same voice who had threatned them before spoke again, louder and angrier, and everyone inside the car threw their hands up in face of the weapons' muzzles pointing at all of them.

Before they could little else but exchange worried glances, other, louder voices echoed all around the limosine and a couple of shots were fired. They all threw themselves to the floor of the car, but they quickly noticed that neither the shots nor the shouting were aimed at them. When they looked back up the guns were gone and several people were celebrating outside. Fábio and the driver traded a couple of sentences in Portuguese, and the rest of the Brazilian team's jaws dropped as they talked.

"What? What happened?" Kenny asked.

"Another gang helped us," Sol said.

"Just how many gangs did you mess with?" Daichi asked Hilary. Ignoring him, she jumped from the floor of the limo and steped outside, being quickly followed by Fábio and Tyson. The Brazilians talked a bit more, but soon Chico was emerging from the armed group, with a big smile drawn over his face.

"Hello, Hilary."

"Chico!" she said, hugging him strongly. "Thank you, I thought we were all dead!"

"Now you know how dangerous it was to help me," he said laughing, breaking off from her. "But I think you can go to the airport now. They should be scared that we'll show up again."

"He's the one you saved from being stabbed?" Tyson asked, pointing at him.

"Yes, this is Chico. Chico, this is-"

"I know who he is, I watched your game this morning," he answered. "You played really well, Tyson, that was super cool."

"Thanks, man," he managed to say. "Thanks for helping us."

"If you didn't mess up your launch you'd have had a perfect game, Hilary. You need to take better care of your wrists, they looked really bad."

"How did you know about that?" she asked.

"I saw him fix them up for you," he answered pointing at Tyson with his head.

"O-oh."

"Wait, how?" Tyson asked.

"You guys have to leave, right?" he asked Hilary, ignoring his question.

"Yeah, we'll have another match in Australia in two days," she answered.

"Then let me tell you why I called you my Anita Garibaldi."

"Now?"

"Yeah."

"… Ok."

"Anita was a Portuguese woman who left the husband she was forced to marry. An Italian man name Giuseppe Garibaldi fell in love as soon as he looked at her, and he said to her "I must have you.". The two of them fought together for Brazil, and even after she died he kept her in his heart. Well, it's the same for me. As soon as I looked at you, hitting that guy's head, pretty and full of light in the dark street, I thought "I must have you.". Even if I only know you for a short while, I know I'd fight for you until the end of my life. I love you, Hilary."

In a bit of a shock, Hilary tried to come to terms with her first confession without fainting right there. However, she found it was easier to answer Chico than she thought it was, at least in theory. Altought she had fun with him and it was easier to hang around him, she knew that liked Tyson far more than she liked him.

Taking a deep breath, she got ready for her first rejection.

"I'm sorry, Chico, but I don't feel the same for you," she said with a sincere sadness on her face.

"I know. I envy the boy you love," he said, glancing at the bandages on her wrists.

"Don't, he's not worth it. He's just a dumbass," she answered, and he laughed again.

"Ok, but if you ever forget him, you can always have me," he said with a kind smile. "I'll go to Japan someday to see how he's treating you, ok?"

"Ok," she said, adding when something else came to her mind. "Do you have a beyblade, Chico?"

"Of course I do."

"What about a bit-beast?"

"No."

"If you had one, could you treat him as a friend?"

"I think so. Why?"

"In that case, I have something for you," Hilary said with a smile, reaching for her back pocket. Kurai's abandoned bit-beast was still homeless with her, and there hadn't been so much as a chance to look for someone to have it, until then.

"That is Windash," she said, while he looked curiously at the drawing on the orange beyblade's bit that she had handed him. "He had a terrible owner who abused him and threw him away. I think it'll be difficult to get him to trust you after all he went through, but if you treat him well I think you can be good friends. Maybe you'll make it into the Brazilian team next year, and then we'll play against each other."

"Thank you, Hilary. I'll do my best to help him," he smiled.

"You have a plane to catch, Hilary," Fábio reminded them after looking at his phone.

"Oh, right. Well, bye, Chico."

Grabbing her hand, he kneeled on the floor and kissed it again.

"Goodbye. I'll see you next year at the championship."

Once he let go, the three of them turned back to the limo, where several heads who had been peeking outside vanished and, with all of the members of both teams accounted for, the limosine sped up towards the airport.

"So, a guy from the Rio Gang fell for you," Sol said with a smirk. "You lucky girl. And he was a gentleman, too. I wish someone fell for me like that…"

Hilary laughed nervously, not so much because of her words, but because of the strange way Tyson was staring at her, sitting across from her on the limo.

"What?" she asked, getting sick of his gaze while keeping his mouth shut.

"So you like someone," he said.

"Yeah, I do, didn't you hear me?" she answered, feeling her cheeks warm up.

"No way, who is it?" Daichi asked, jumping from his seat.

"It's none of your business," she answered, trying to sound bored. Her red cheeks didn't help.

"Come on, tell us," Tyson said, now with curiosity clearly in his face.

"I'm not telling."

"At least give us a clue," Daichi said.

"Why would I do that?"

"Come one, just one clue," he insisted.

"Is he here with us?" Tyson asked.

"Is he from Japan, Arabia or Brazil?"

"Do we know him?"

"Is he a total stranger?"

"Tall?"

"Thin?"

"Fat?"

"Blond or dark?"

"Ok, ok, shut up!" she yelled in an angry voice, silencing them both for a moment.

"Well?"

"He's… a dumbass and he's so stupid he hasn't even realized I like him. You happy now?" she answered.

"Just that?" Tyson asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Tell us something else."

"The next one who pisses me off gets thrown out the limo and I'll hang him to the door by his foot!"

Chapter 13 – _"Rocky Desert"_

In Sydney they swapped from the large planes to a much smaller one, big enough only for the six of them and the pilot, who took them to the meeting place designated by the Australian team, gliding over nothing but rocky desert on the way there.

Gazing down through the window, Tyson wasn't asleep, unlike most people on that plane. Hilary's revelation in Brazil was too baffling for him to relax, and whomever she liked, it had to be a strong feeling to make her reject that Chico's declaration. After seeing the tight hug between the two of them, as if they were close friends, he could've sworn, in a strange outburst of anger, that she'd actually say she liked him too.

It was useless to ask her whom she was so strongly in love with or to give them more clues, so the only thing he had to work with was the fact that, in Hilary's eyes, he was a dumbass who wasn't aware that she liked him. The problem with that was, by her definition, probably more than 90% of the male population in the world were dumbassess. Hell, by those standarts even he could be the one she was interested in, which was doubtful, at the very least.

But what if he was?

Tyson shook his head when something too close to satisfaction crept into him with that possibility, and looked back to the rest of the plane. Kai and Ells were also awake, but the rest of the team was still asleep, unaffected by the afternoon sunlight. Kenny had spent most the flight from Brazil to Australia working with Dizzi, and Hilary and Daichi hadn't slept at all during the flight, she too agitated by the events, and he feeling much more at ease on that smaller plane.

Soon it started bending slightly downward, dropping altutide to land, and the three of them gradually woke up to look at where they were. A spill of tar in the middle of nowhere with a small building next to it was used as the landing strip, and when they exited the plane they found members of the beyblade association and the Australian team waiting for them.

"Hello, everyone," said a dark, long haired guy with intimidating yellow eyes, holding a whip on his waist and a hat with an eagle feather on the top of his head, putting out his hand for Tyson to shake. "I'm Evo, captain for the Australian team. Hope you had a good journey."

"Hey, I'm Tyson. It was pretty long, and at least I'm starving."

"Me too, me too," Daichi quickly said.

"Then we can just go to the ranch," said a blonde girl with glasses and an exuberant chest, wearing a pretty red jewel on her neck. "It's not far from here, you can guys can take a break there."

Accepting their offer, the group finished introducing each other and then headed for a pair of jeeps, which quickly took them to the small feast the team had prepared for them. The only girl on the Australian team, Sheila was also their technician. The other members were a muscled guy with the restless eyes of a wild animal named Aggro, a friendly freckled wearing a hat with stuffed kangaroo ears stiched to it named Roo, and their spare player was Drongo, who seemed to have difficulty understanding basic reasoning.

They mostly talked to each other about the eliminations and previous games, eating the delicious Australian barbecue, until, one by one, the Japanese fell strangely asleep, surrounded by their hosts' heartfelt laughter.

_It was hard to tell what was going on at first, as many flashes of memory crossed before her without letting her grab hold of them and see them clearly._

_When she finally steadied herself, she was sitting up on her bed with Tai's help. He had been the only one who stayed behind, while Makoto, Ryoga and Daichi went back to their home villages to find something that could cure her, and Kaito set out to find the woman with the red crystal._

_He was the first to return, but she barely recognized the person who stepped inside her room with Kenichi. He looked physically the same, but after the battle when he had taken Edonisu's life something changed in him, as if something had been taken from him with equal, or perhaps more value. He refused to tell why he wasn't as happy about the end of the war as everyone else, but she could at least feel a sliver of his old self when he accepted without question to travel south and speak to the woman Edonisu had told her about._

_Even that was gone. Kaito was but an empty shell._

"_Well, did you find something?" Tai asked hurriedly._

_Silently, he produced a a chain from his clothes, tied to a rhombus shaped red crystal, and put it on her open hand, letting it shine with the smiting sunlight. When she looked back up, he spoke._

"_Your mother's cursed, Hina. She was cursed to watch her daughters fight each other and die. If both of them, already tied by blood, become tied by soul, when one of them dies the other one will inevitably follow."_

"_But she's never mentioned a sister to me…" she said in disbelief. "Neither her nor my father."_

"_She was your half-sister, daughter only to your mother. She was Edonisu."_

"_What…" she whispered, looking down to the crystal. For a moment, the light it cast morphed into a vision of grief, of her mother when young, giving away a lilac haired baby and returning home with regret, that lasted indefinitely._

_Even if he spoke without any emotion, Kaito's words were sincere._

"Hina…"

"_You bastard, you're the one that killed Edonisu!" Tai shouted, seizing his collar in the blink of an eye._

"_Stop it, Tai!"_

"_Stop it, Tai!"_

_Kenichi quickly got in between them and split them up while Hina grabbed Tai's arm to hold him back._

"_He didn't know, it wasn't his fault," she said when his angry stare didn't wane._

"_But if that's true-"_

"_She was our enemy," she reminded him. "What would you do if you had the chance he had?"_

_He grit his teeth, but his anger changed into focus and he turned back to Kaito._

"_How do we break that curse?" Tai asked, but he merely shook his head in response. "Bullshit, there's always a way to break these things. Let's send a message to Daichi, Makoto and Ryoga, it'll help them find something."_

_Saying that, he stormed out of the room with Kenichi close behind, but Kaito stayed where he was, as if he was lost without a purpose. Edonisu hadn't been truly their enemy and she knew it all too well, but, just like she hadn't had a choice opposing them, they hadn't had a choice fighting her. If they were tied by soul, that meant the both of them had fallen in love with someone. Now it was all too clear why he was so void._

_Reaching out for his hand, she planted the crystal on it and closed it gently._

"_I wish I could heal you."_

_His eyes gazed down at his closed hand and, with a shake of his head, Kaito turned back and left the room._

Light… The sun? But it's so strong.

Little by little, they opened their eyes to their new location. An immense vastness of blue hovered over their heads, and ahead of them was spread a horizon of red rock, populated by a handful of pale, dry bushes, a hole on the earth and the Australian team.

"What's going on?" Tyson asked, his voice wavering with sleep. "Why are we in the middle of the desert?"

"We got kidnapped again," Kai said as if it was no big deal, standing up from the ground.

"What?" Daichi shouted.

"It's true," Sheila said with a bitter, mean smile. "You know, when you invite a country to come over, you need to make sure that they have everything they need until the friendly match is over. Well, the Koreans skipped the day of the match on purpose to make us reschedule, so that they could stay here longer and abuse that privilege. We didn't like that too much, so we've decided to force you to play against us. Now."

She pressed the last word like a death sentence, making some of them shiver.

"We weren't going to do that, that's so rude," Hilary said, joining her hands as if praying for forgiveness.

"We don't even know you. Those are just words," Sheila continued.

"Well, this was mostly her idea, so-"

"Shut up, Roo!" she yelled, turning back at him. "We're playing right now and get this out of the way!"

"Ok, ok, whatever you say," he sighed.

"Fine, we'll play," Tyson said, brushing the dirt from his jacket. "How do you want to do it?"

"All of your team members will fight against all of ours, so it'll be a five on five match," Evo said. "Is that alright with you?"

"Fine by me. Which one of you goes first?"

"I'll go," Roo said. "Can I fight you, Misaki?"

"Oh, me?" Ellivah said. She was still using her fake name with anyone that wasn't on her team, but the fact that he wanted to face her in specific was surprising to her. "You are aware that I'm the spare player, I'm sure."

"Yeah, that's fine."

Wondering why he had chosen her, Ellivah and Roo advanced to the irregular concavity on the ground, dug by rain and time, that would be their disk. Since he was the only one who wasn't playing, Kenny was appointed the referee, although only under Sheila's close surveilance.

When he gave the mark her black beyblade and his red beyblade flew into the stadium, kicking up dust as they landed and dashed against each other. Roo dodged her attack and hit her from behind, but Dusk held its ground and pushed him back. When he found himself unable to catch her again, he decided to go for a boost.

"Kangoo!"

A red kangaroo, much like the scenery surrounding them, jumped from his beyblade and it charged towards Dusk with quite a lot of speed. With a subtle frown, Ellivah looked back down the disk.

"Dusk!"

Empowered by the hound, her beyblade easily avoided the dangerous attack.

"_Do you know what's their problem?"_

"_No, I don't. Let's settle this quickly, before they find out how to beat us."_

"_Understood."_

With a quick dash both beyblades connected again, in a tangent favourable to Ellivah, and Roo's beyblade was tossed in the air only to land, immobile, by his feet.

"Why are you the spare player?" he asked, pointing at her with his jaw to the floor.

"It was my choice. I hope you understand. Thank you for the match," she said after collecting Dusk with a small bow.

"Hmm… Drongo, you're up," Shiela said, turning to their spare while both players returned to their lineup.

"Huh, me?" he asked in a lazy voice.

"Yeah, you. Move!"

"Huh, ok."

Without further question, he advanced to their side of the disk and Daichi quickly jumped forward. From what he could tell Drongo was pretty stupid, so he should have an easy time.

Both beyblades clashed in the air and landed heavily on opposite sides of the improvised disk. Again ignoring the fact that he playing against someone whose moves he didn't know, Daichi opted for his tried and true beatdown strategies, and it seemed to be working to some extent. Drongo made no effort to defend against him and his beyblade wobbled dangerously, but it never left the disk or stopped spinning. Soon Daichi was summoning his Strata Dragoon to empower his attacks.

"_What's with this guy? It's like he's made of rubber, it's so annoying."_

"_He's not lasting long against me."_

"Drongo, use your bit-beast, now!" Sheila shouted, making him summon Play, a black and green platypus, who bent dangerously under the golden dragon's power, before just bouncing it all back on him and throwing Daichi's beyblade almost to the edge of the disk.

"Argh… Again!"

"_I'll get you!"_

With a couple of more hits it was finally clear that their orignal plan wasn't working, so they tried to push Play out of the disk, whike Drongo gazed about as if he wasn't really thinking about the match. Distributing their might against the platypus seemed to be working, as he was slowly pushed back without countering their strength.

"Drongo, you're about to lose," Evo warned when the beyblades were about to hit the border of the disk.

"Huh? Oh, you're right," he said, looking closely at the beystadium. Unphased by the beatdown, Play planted its claws on the ground and lowered its head while the beyblade lowered its attack ring. With its beak under Strata Dragoon's body, it flung him upward, and the beyblade landed several feet away from the beystadium.

Shocked beyong belief he had managed to lose to someone dumber than Tyson, Daichi reconsidered his past few games, and thought about how he could ask for a rematch with that strange guy without anyone else knowing about it.

"Very well. Pick your next player," Sheila said with a satisfied smile. Her bossy tone was starting to get on Hilary's nerves, she should be only one allowed to be in charge there.

"I'll go," she said, willing to make a point to that enervating girl. A dangerous smile emerged on Aggro's face, and his yellow eyes sparked as he moved for the disk.

More red dust was kicked as the beyblades touched the ground and they traded a couple of blows while Hilary picked up the speed she needed to start with her series of quick hits, but her plans where cut short when an orange dingo emerged from Aggro's beyblade, attacking her with almost enough strength to push her off. Steadying her beyblade, she called for Dawn to help her out, stepping out of the way of their attacks while trying to fight that strange wild bit-beast, with a predatorial nervous twitch.

Noticing she wasn't letting herself get intimidated by him or his Wildin, Aggro's smile widened.

"You're really interesting. Think I'll keep you," he said, drawing her attention.

"W-what do you mean, keep me?" she asked, feeling her fright catch up to her.

"Even savage beasts need a partner."

"Oh, please no. Please tell me you're not thinking about _that_ too."

"Why not? Is there something wrong?" he asked, moving from his position and coming closer to her.

"Hey, get away from Hilary!" Tyson shouted, but Aggro ignored him, approaching her with a predatory smile while she took a couple of steps back, forgetting about the match, even if something on the back of her mind warned her not to.

Then, as he stopped right in front of her, a metal clang made Hilary turn to the disk and see her beyblade immobile by its edges, while Wildin returned to the center of the depression.

"It's my win," Aggro said with a sly smile.

"Hey, that was cheating!" she said, feeling decieved, but also slightly relieved.

"You should never get distracted by your opponents tricks during any sort of fight," he said with a shrug. "You brought that upon yourself."

"He's entirely right. Aggro won fair and square, didn't he, referee-san?" Sheila asked turning menacingly towards Kenny.

"Y-yeah, Aggro's victory."

While Hilary picked up her beyblade and joined the rest of the team, Tyson and Daichi laughed away at her expense, claiming no one would ever be interested in her so fast and she should've seen the bluff right away, gaining a blow to the head from her right fist for their trouble.

Stretching her arms, Sheila steped forward towards the disk.

"I'm getting tired of just watching. I'll play this time. You'd better do a good job, referee-san, you got that?" she added, turning towards Kenny.

"Y-yes, ma'am," he quickly answered. Pleased with his intimidated response, she skimmed through the Japanese team. Only Tyson and Kai hadn't participated.

"So, which one of you will face me? I'd personally prefer the handsome one over the pig, but I'll let you chose."

"If you're talking handsome, that'd be me," Tyson said stepping forward, but she laughed heartly at him.

"Boy, you're so far from being handsome, not even plastic surgery could help you," she said with her stuck up nose. "I was talking about the one that doesn't take in everything he sees in front of him like some vaccum cleaner."

"What? You're finished!" he shouted, positioning himself for the launch. Unphased by his rage, as if he was but an ant complaining that she got her foot on its way, she also got herself into position.

If Tyson was expecting an easy match, he was rapidly proven wrong. Sheila's arrogance had a reason, and it didn't only come down to beyblade physics, as her moves and tactics were enough to surprise anyone who looked down on her. Resisting her attacks and hitting her back, combined with his bad mood, was enough to draw Dragoon out soon after the game started.

"_See, this is why I was saying we need to expand your weakness towards girls in general."_

"_You're not helping!"_ he shouted in his mind while a blue and brown bird Sheila had called Kooka descended on the dragon and the blades sparked violently.

"_I'm not? But I thought irritation was one of your greastest fuels."_

"_We're not gonna lose against that snob!"_

Opening his arms, Dragoon, pushed the kookaburra that had been caught by its beak between his claws, but still forced him back.

"_Don't be ridiculous, Tyson. Of course we're not losing against someone of her calibre."_

"Phantom Evolution Hurricane!"

Taking advantage of her lack of balance, Dragoon's storm sent her blue beyblade flying across the stadium, making it land in a cloud of dust, still spinning, but outside the rim of the disk.

"Who's the pig now?" Tyson asked with a pelutant smile, almost like her own just before the game, while Dragoon vanished inside his beyblade with a satisfied roar.

"Still you," Sheila quickly answered with a shrug. "But I guess whomever's not pretty has to develop other qualities to compensate."

Steaming, Tyson was dragged from the disk by Kenny while Kai and Evo approached it, masterfully ignoring the naval battle of insults between him and the girl.

Their match started slowly as they cautioustly evaluated each other, but it quickly gained pace and power when the bit-beasts showed up, a thylacine in tones of black, orange and purple named Tasman who attacked with spines from its fur, opposing Dranzer and his fire.

However, for a while, his attacks seemed to be weaker than they should be.

"_What's wrong?"_

"_Isn't that crystal familiar to you?"_

"_No_. _Let's focus. I've got an idea._"

Seeing the dust that had been kicking up during all those games, and adding to the fact that Evo and Tasman were almost as skilled as them, Kai had his beyblade gain speed and Dranzer beat his wings close to the ground, both creating a gigantic red cloud that caught Evo and his bit-beast off guard. Hidden by it, it was simple for them to attack in full force and toss them out of the disk.

Despite everything, only Sheila seemed upset about the fact they her team had lost to the Japanese 2 to 3. The rest congratulated and invited them back to the ranch for lunch, guaranteeing there would be no odd things on their food anymore. Starving, both Tyson and Daichi agreed without thinking twice, dragging the rest of them behind.

Evo seemed a bit more relaxed than in the previous day, and talked a bit more with the remaining people around the table, mostly pointing out several things about Tyson and Hilary's attitude, but in such a subtle way that the meaning of his words systematically escaped the both of them. Tyson and Daichi still ate like pigs, just like Sheila had described them, but the first one stopped momentarily everytime Aggro got too close to Hilary, yelling at him to back off while he simply laughed at both his and her reactions. Just like the previous night, Roo managed to strike a conversation with just about anyone and Ellivah spoke with Drongo about their bit-beasts, while Kai simply watched the whole thing.

However, the more Hilary looked at it, the more she was sure Sheila's necklace held the same crystal as the one she had seen and held on her last dream.

"Hey, Sheila," she called, while the Australian tech talked to Kenny about their team's beyblades, marvelled at Dizzi and all the data she held.

"What?" she asked as they both looked up from her monitor.

"Where did you get that necklace?"

"Oh, this? It's pretty isn't it?" she said, holding it between two fingers. "My parents found it in a pawn shop years ago, when I was still a kid. They said a legendary bit-beast was sealed here, but it seems like someone else got to it before we did. Oh well, I love my Kooka, anyway," she finished with a shrug.

"A legendary bit-beast…" Hilary muttered to herself.

Shortly afterwards the feast was deemed finished, and the Australians drove them to the airstrip, where the small plane to Sydney was already expecting the Japanese team to start their long journey home.

Chapter 14 – _"Beach Revelations"_

Blue skies, sea breeze, the smooth sound of waves surrounded her in their quietude…

"Hilary! Hurry up and bring that!"

Until a yelling Tyson snapped her out of it. Sighing, Hilary could only confirm he could break any sort of relaxing environment.

"Coming!" she shouted back, dragging a cooler filled with fresh drinks with Ells's help, for a day well spent at the beach.

It was three days after their return from Australia, and the group had decided to take a break before the championship and simply relax, which was something Hilary desperately needed. Ever since her drug-induced sleep her nights had been filled with Hina's memories, which by itself would not have been so bad if they weren't incredibly confusing, and only a sense of looming fear and powerlessness were left when she woke up. All of them were probably after her imminent death was confirmed by Kaito and, even though she didn't like to be assaulted by her feelings, Hilary had to admit she would probably feel the same way with such news. The idea of certain, close death was terrifying, and she couldn't image a happy ending for her story.

While Tyson and Daichi, already stripped down to their trunks, raced to the sea, followed by the ever calm Kai, Hilary put down the cooler and sighed to clear her mind of all that trouble. She was there to have fun and relax. Tyson's grampa ran after them to stop Daichi from getting in the water without his floating devices, and Hilary started to take off her shirt.

When she looked back up, Ells was staring as her as if that was the strangest thing in the world.

"What's wrong?"

"Why are you stripping down in the middle of so many people?" she asked. "I thought we shouldn't do that."

"Oh, I have a bikini, so it's fine."

"That set of fabric you've made me wear when we got up? There isn't much difference between that and a normal set of underwear, I'm afraid."

"Well, that's true, but you can go to the sea with the bikini and it won't show anything inappropriate," she answered with a shrug, hanging her clothes on the open sun umbrella.

"Is that so? I've never heard of such a contraption," she said with a genuinely surprised voice.

"You've never been to the beach before, have you, Ells?"

"I have, but only on cold, deserted beaches to practice, where the waves were much higher than those," she answered, pointing with her head at the relatively tame ocean, where dozens of people splashed happily about. "It doesn't make much of a difference to me, I'm simply surprised you don't let me wear the pajamas with the boys, but here its fine to show everything."

Unsure of what to answer, Hilary just watched her strip from her overalls and her yellow t-shirt, but she couldn't help finding it funny when she noticed Ells was acting as if she had suddenly landed on an alien planet, looking about with her eyes wide open, suspicious, but mostly curious.

As they reached the ocean Hilary quickly joined the rest of the group and Ellivah followed, unfettered by the cold temperature, but she didn't move beyond having the water by her waist. Tyson had brought a beach ball and the group tossed it between themselves for a bit of fun, in a semi-friendly game until, with a stronger throw, the ball landed far behind Daichi's back.

"Hey, I'm here, not over there," he shouted angrily at Tyson.

"Oops, its true. I forgot your size is as short as your intelligence. It's obvious you wouldn't make it that far," he said with a mean smirk, crossing his arms in a challenging pose. Of course, this only managed to piss Daichi more and, after having recovered the ball, he threw it straight for Tyson's face.

When it slowly came back down, he was red from the impact and from rage.

"You're dead, Daichi!"

He merely threw out his tongue, not intimidated in the slightest, and both of them started battling it out, tossing and dodging from the ball with lightning speed while the rest of them were put aside from their quarrel.

"There they go again…" Kenny sighed.

"For Christ's sake, they make the little girl who played against you in the eliminations feel mature," Hilary said, crossing her arms, getting ready to yell at the both of them.

"Chill out, lass, they're just having some fun," grampa Granger said. "That's what we came here for, right?"

"Well, I guess that's true," she relunctantly agreed before turning to them again. In a way, it was kind of cute watching them yelling and making fun of each other. Before she realized it, she was smiling.

That quickly vanished when, coming from nowhere, the ball flew straight for her face.

"Tyson…" she grunted, closing a fist violently while the ball fell to the water and floated off like it wasn't its problem. "Come here so I can smack you!"

"Oh, huh… Let's race to that rock over there," he said pointing to an outcrop not far from them, spouting from the sea.

"Yeah, let's go," Daichi quickly agreeded, knowing he'd get hit by her ire if Hilary didn't get her hands on Tyson.

"Come back here!" she shouted as they started swimming there, seizing Ells's hand and pulling her behind. When they lost their footing, the lilac haired girl vanished under the surface.

"Oh, Ells!"

Hilary quickly turned around and pulled her back to a place where they had footing. After letting her cough out the water she had swallowed, Hilary and Kenny brought her back ashore, being quickly followed by the rest of the group as they realized what had happened.

"Are you ok? What happened?" Hilary asked while Ells regained her breath, looking absolutely stunned with the experience. Then she looked up to them, one by one, extremely confused.

"Why can't I float on the water like the rest of you?"

Most of them just stared at her in return, unable to process those words coming from someone like her, but Kai couldn't help chuckling, thinking all that was too dumb.

The group glanced at him weirdly at first, but they eventually got to the same conclusion he had and started laughing, which only got worse when Ells's eyes got even more puzzled with their reaction.

"What is it? Did I say something wrong?" she asked.

"No, no, it's just weird that you can't swim," Hilaru answered, calming down.

"Swim?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, I think I understand," she said, as if remembering domething important. "There aren't a lot of places where you can swim like this is Russia without suffering from hypothermia. That may be why no one bothered to teach me when I was there."

"We'll teach you, lass," grampa Granger said. "It's not hard at all."

"Yeah, right. If that goes like the time when you tried to teach us how to stretch our backs it's gonna be a disaster," Tyson muttered. Hearing him just fine, he made his grandson drop twenty pushups while he and the rest of the group started the lessons, both for Ellivah and Daichi, who had to use floating devices because he also didn't know how to swim.

Being a fast learner, Ellivah could already float by herself just fine after a while. On the other hand, Daichi was considered a lost cause in less than half an hour, and was left to his devices until they had to leave the water for lunch.

After they all had some sandwiches and cleared their thrist the group gradually split up. Hilary and grampa Granger stayed under the sun umbrella to nap, while Kenny also sat there but working with Dizzi. Kai and Ellivah got up and left to walk for a while and Tyson and Daichi buried grampa Granger in the sand, leaving his snoring head stick out. They tried to do the same thing with Hilary, but she wasn't asleep and turned on them in a flash when they covered her in sand. As they ran away from her, she molded a ball of sand on her hands and tossed it at Tyson's back with precision, making him fall down while she prepared a second ball for Daichi.

That alone triggered another game between the three of them, that was invaded by Ellivah when she and Kai returned from their expedition. In turn, Kenny hid behind a dune to get away from the waging three-way war, and Grampa kept happily snoring until a ball of sand smashed on his forhead. Shouting at the young ones to let him out, Ellivah ran to help him, nailing a hit on Daichi when he tried to sneak up on her.

As soon as he was loose enough, the old man jumped from the hole with his bamboo katana and tried to toss the sand balls back as if it was a baseball bat, which was proven impossible when they broke apart by the lightest touch.

Soon they were all getting up to clear the sand with another short bath at the sea. When they returned, Kenny was peeking from behind his hiding place, wondering if it was safe to come out.

While the teenagers had a quick snack, grampa Granger fetched his fishing gear and left towards a more isolated location, for some peace and quiet among the rocks and the small fish. Meanwhile, Kenny returned to his computer and Tyson and Daichi dragged Kai and Ells to the water to check which one of the four of them was the fastest swimmer. Not feeling like going back into the chilling sea, Hilary laid out her towel in the sun to try and work on her tan. She was already half asleep when Tyson and Daichi returned, dripping salt water, to drag Kenny into their competition.

"Ow, let me go, I don't want to," he said in a bit of panic. It made Hilary chuckle, thinking he sounded exactly like Kenichi in one of her first dreams.

Her dreams…

She was about to have another one, wasn't she?

_More feeble than ever, she sat up on her bed, thinking it was finally time. Tai had left her for a moment to talk to Kenichi, but whatever he had to say wouldn't help her anymore. With a bit of her final strength, she conjured Dawn from the image on her chest. The plummed dragon materialized, just smaller than a horse, and leaned its head on her body, letting her hug it tenderly._

"This is it, isn't it?"

"_Yes, it is. Take care of my descendants, Dawn."_

"I'll do my best. Goodbye, Hina."

"_Goodbye, my friend."_

_Breaking away from her head, Hina held a blank silver medallion between them, passed down from her mother to her. Obeying her command, the dragon unmade itself into soft, white light and vanished inside of it, letting her image be sculpted on the cool, metallic surface and falling into a long sleep._

_Looking for the warmth of the sun one last time, she pulled back the light sheets that covered her and walked out into the balcony of the room they were using as her own, under the consent of all the residents of the mansion. Tai stood there alone, gazing out to the horizon. Since they had freed him from the lords, what felt like a lifetime ago, his hair had grown out and soon he'd be able to tie it on the back of his head, like she had always preferred to see him._

"_Hina, what are you doing here?" he asked when he turned back to see who was coming into the balcony. "You need to rest if you want to feel better."_

_When he approached her to get her back inside the room she shook her head._

"_This is it, Tai. I'm not getting any better. So, please, don't. I just want to feel the sun on my hair."_

_As if hit by a mortal wound, he froze where he stood, but, with a deep breath, he nodded at her and, taking her hand, brought her to the edge of the balcony._

"_I need you to do something for me," she said, giving him the silver medallion. "Take this to one of my cousins. I have two of them, they're both good people and they still live on the village. Chose whichever one you want, give this to her and tell her our story. Tell her to pass them on to her daughters. Can you do that for me?"_

"_Yes, I'll do it," he said, stowing the engraved medallion on his clothes._

"_There's something else I have to do, but only if you and Dragoon want to."_

"_What is it?"_

"_I'd like to seal him inside your sword, so that he can help your descendants in the future. Just like I've sealed Dawn inside my medallion. I know they'll need her help."_

_After pondering for a moment, conversing with his spirit, Tai was surrounded in light and the blue dragon emerged next to them in his full glory, growling softly as he lowered his head in front of them._

"_He doesn't like the idea very much, but he says he'll do it," Tai said, scratching its scales._

"Only because I trust you, Hina. Is that descendant of Tai going to be as much fun as he is?"

"_I don't know, but I'm sure he'll live up to your expectations," she said with a shy smile. "It comes with his spirit, right?"_

"Let's do it, then."

_The dragon's head moved away and Tai unsheeted his sword, holding it above his head. Then, becoming blue light, Dragoon was sucked up by its hilt and, with a simple gesture, Hina put him to sleep._

"_You were saying that like he'd be gone, but I can still feel him," Tai said, sheeting his sword back._

"_That's good," she said with a weak voice and smile. He wrapped her in his arms and held her strongly against him, as if that alone was enough to pry her from Death's wing._

"_Thank you, Tai," she said, leaning her face against his chest._

"_Hina…"_

"_Yes?"_

"_Hina, don't die," he asked, buring his head on her hair._

"_I don't want to, but it's not up to me to decide," she said, gently stroking his arm._

"_Hina, I…" he said, pushing away just enough to be able to look at her in the eye. "I love you. I've loved you for the longest time, ever since we were just kids on the village. I can't lose you."_

_Her weak heart jumped with conflicting emotions, and her hand ended up on his face._

"_Then why didn't you say anything sooner? You're such an idiot."_

_With whatever strength she had left she closed her eyes and kissed him as passionately as she could, and even if he was caught by surprise, Tai answered her in full._

"_I guess we were really made for each other," she said, leaning her forehead against his while the tears ran down her cheeks. "I love you too, for the longest time. I didn't want to hurt you. I'm so sorry…"_

_With another kiss he silenced her, and she let herself be taken by a silent force, melted by his feeling in that single touch, while weeping for the short time they were ultimately allowed together, and regretting everything she didn't do._

_But nothing changed. When she disappeared into the void, she was still there, in the middle of the dark._

"_Who's there?"_

"_Huh? Wait, what's going on?"_

"_You have my voice. You must be the one I've seen. Did you find Dawn?"_

_It finally hit her who was talking to her._

"_Yes, I did."_

"_Oh, thank goodness. I hope you two can become good friends. She's very reliable. Is there a reincarnation from Tai in your time as well?"_

"_Yes, I think so."_

"_And do you love him?"_

"_Y-yes, I do."_

"_Then don't be afraid. Even if you can't stop the curse from fulfilling itself again, tell him. It'll be alright, Hilary."_

_Hilary._

"Wake up, Hilary."

Her voice seemed to come closer and closer, until it was right next to her and no longer Hina's. As she opened her eyes she saw Tyson's concerned head hanging just above hers.

"What?"

"You're crying," said Ells's voice. Hilary quickly looked around her to see everyone around her, and as she sat up and brought a hand over to her cheek, she realized they were right.

"Are you ok?" Tyson asked.

Even though Hina's request was still clear on her mind and it made her heart jump when she crossed eyes with Tyson again, there was no way she could tell him about her feelings without choking on her words, let alone in the middle of all those people.

"It was just a sad dream, I'm fine," she said, drying her eyes on her hands. "You guys didn't need to get that worried."

"Let's go swimming a little bit more to forget all about it, then," Tyson said, giving her a hand. "Come on."

Accepting his help, Hilary let him bring her up and take her back to the sea.

That night, before she went to sleep, with the anguish from her previous life hanging over her shoulders, Hilary inscribed Hina and Tai's names on a candle and let it burn under the porch in their memory. The white candle burned lonesome, enveloped in the silence of the Granger's garden, up until dawn broke night's veil, bringing with it a gentle breeze that robbed the candle of its tiny flame, spilling golden light over the grass.

Chapter 15 – _"Reunion"_

One of the many islands nestled in the midst of the Pacific Ocean was a private, extinct volcano, where vegetation had grown freely for many years, until dozens of people disembarked there with permission from the owner and a plan in their agenda. The volcanic summit was used to build the central area of the Beyblade World Championship, housing several hotels, from affordable to luxorius, and a grand beyblade stadium, capable of sitting everyone attending the event and showing them the best moments of the tournament.

Other than the runway that protuded out into the sea, the remaining of the island had been split into sixteen equal parts, each one of them to be occupied by a different country, climatized and decorated accordingly. Russia's space had snow, Egypt had sand, and Mozambique had savannah. Even wild animals had been distributed among the areas, separated from the main paths by tall, electrified fences.

According to Mr. Dickenson, most of the audience was already installed in the hotels, and the teams were arriving to the island, one by one. The metallic flying contraption still enervated Ellivah, but she had far more confidence sitting there than the first time. In turn, Daichi still didn't know if he was starving or too sick to eat everytime he came out of an airplane.

"That's a strange map," Tyson said, looking over Kenny's shoulder, who was analysing it by the exit gate of their flight. It showed the island and its several divisions.

"Are we gonna have to cross to whole island just to get to our area?" Daichi grumbled. "I think I'm hungry, I don't wanna walk that much."

"You won't have to, Daichi," Kenny said. "We only need to go to our area for breakfast and dinner. Lunch is held at the main cafeteria for the players, with all of the other teams. It's right next to the airport."

"Do you know which teams are already here?" Tyson asked.

"No, but we can ask around," he said, closing the map. "I'm sure we'll know someone."

To ensure their privacy, no one but the teams could enter the cafeteria for the players without being invited by them, but, just like Kenny had suggested, they quickly recognized a lot of the people there.

"Max! Ray!" Tyson called as he spotted them sitting with the rest of their teams. They turned back around and found their friends waving at them.

"Hey, you're here!"

"About time!"

They both stood up and joined them, being followed by Lee, Kevin, Gary, Mariah and Mr. Tao from the Chinese team, and Rick, Michael, Eddy and Emily from the North American team. While they all greeted each other, introduced Ellivah and gave them general hints of how the practice matches had gone up until that point, Robert, Oliver, Henry and Johnny joined them from the same table, along a dirty blond guy with glasses, likely the fifth member of their team.

"Well guys, its good that we've already eaten, or we wouldn't have anything left after this glutton finishes," Johnny said.

"Hey, it's not like-"

"Welcome, my formidable opponent."

The Japanese turned to the familiar voice to find prince Rachid, followed by Layla and his bodyguards under the guise of players, coming from the same table as the rest of their friends. Ignoring the rest of them and cutting Tyson off, the prince's words were directed towards Kai, turning to Ellivah right after.

"And I'm happy to see everything is fine with your fair bride."

While Kai did his outmost to not grab and crush his head on the spot, everyone around them fell into surprised silence, staring at them.

"What do you mean, bride?" Max asked.

"Yeah, when I left you had just woken up," Ray said.

"It's a little more complicated then you think, they're not actually engaged," Kenny answered.

"According to my rule, they are," Rachid quickly corrected.

"This so called prince kidnapped me and Ells and forced the boys to play beyblade to get us back in a freaking bet," Hilary said, starting with a sharp tone, but then slowing down as she remembered how it had happened. "When Daichi lost, Kai had to bet a kiss, which apparently means engagement in Saudi Arabia. And then he won."

Everyone turned from a visibly upset Kai back to a slightly blushed Ellivah, back to him. It was hard to imagine someone allergic to proximity or someone who didn't show any strong emotion initiate such an act.

"Ok, I'm having a little bit of trouble here," Emily said. "How did that happen?"

"Kai did it. It was beautiful, it was like a movie," Hilary said with clear enthusiasm, making Ellivah's cheeks redden even more, even though her expression remained stoically planted on the floor.

"He was romantic?" Mariah said, pointing at Kai in disbelief before turning to her own team member. "See, Ray, if he can do it why can't you?"

"We've already kissed a bunch of times," he said, raising his hand in his defense.

"But I'm always the one who starts it," she pouted back.

"Man, I kinda wish I could've seen it. It's pretty hard to believe Kai would actually kiss a girl," Max said.

"My palace has a tight surveillance system. I can get a video of the event," Rachid said as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Even though Kai eyed him like a murderer, he either had a suicidal vein or no instinct for self-preservation.

"When would you like to watch it?" he casually asked.

"These things are much better seen in public, Your Highness," Oliver said. "We appreciate your offer, but if they are engaged under your rule, I'm sure there will be other opportunities."

"Can we go eat now? This is all so lame and I'm starving," Daichi complained, pulling everyone out of that exchange like a cold ice bucket. Everyone who had stood up returned to their seats and, after equipping themselves with trays and food, the Japanese joined them.

"So weren't you guys all from different countries? How did you end up on the same team?" Kenny asked the Europeans.

"Yeah, and who's the new guy?" Tyson asked, done swallowing a piece of beef.

"We only had eliminations in Italy and Portugal, so we all went to Henry's place and participated there," Oliver said.

"This is Angelo. He's Portuguese, so we're not sure why he chose to participate in Italy, but he's pretty good so I'm not complaining," Henry said with a shrug.

He had been glancing to another table from time to time, but Angelo finally turned and spoke to them.

"Things were too heated in Portugal, the entire school was going to compete in our elimination, and I missed the day for signing up. I have family in Italy, so I decided to try my luck there."

"With your ability and your skills as a tech I'm glad you're on our side," Johnny said nudging him with his elbow.

"What ability?" Tyson asked.

"My bit-beast can damage control," Angelo said. "I can weaken enemy attacks and empower ours. It has its limits, but it's a very useful ability."

"The Portuguese team isn't bad either," Rachid added, pointing with his head at their table. "I invited them for a friendly match, but I couldn't get anyone to bet with. The one with glasses has a strong kick and the other brunette is savage."

"It seems she trains her legs on other boys every single day," Layla said.

"You have no idea," Angelo said, letting a shy smile etch on his face. It seemed like he knew her, and since he came from the same country and kept glancing at the table with the Portuguese team, he probably did.

"But are they good players?" Tyson asked, after taking a look at their table. "It looks like they're all girls."

"The one with glasses, Lafiria I think is her name, has a bit-beast similar to Angelo, but it manipulates beyblade spin instead of attack power," Rachid explained. "The red-haired boy, Samuel, can make other players fall into a sort of trance. He is a very scary opponent. The rest of them are nothing out of the ordinary. The brunette, Mellonie, uses mostly fire based attacks, and the one with lighter hair, Vera, uses ice. The last girl, with the bangs covering her face, is Isabel, she's the spare player and their technician, but we didn't play against her."

"Hey, why don't we invite them to join us?"

Without waiting for anyone to agree with him, Tyson stood up and shouted across the cafeteria.

"Hey, you! Portuguese girls! Do you wanna sit with us?"

In the distance it was hard to tell, but it seemed like Lafiria glanced at Mellonie with a mean smile, winked at Vera, and both of them had everyone else lift up their trays and accept his request.

As soon as they put down their food, saying hi to everyone there, Vera swiped the chocolate bar on Mellonie's tray and tossed it over to Lafiria.

"Hey, isso é meu!"

Looking pissed, she ran towards Lafiria, who tossed the bar back to Vera, who ran out of her way laughing.

"What the hell's going on?" Max asked.

"They're always like this," Samuel said with a sigh, pointing at Angelo with his head. "Just wait for it."

Vera stopped behind Ray and tossed the chocolate back to Lafiria, standing ready at the other side of the table. While she started running again Mellonie dove under the table to cross it, ignoring the complaints from the Chinese team, and raced after the curled haird girl. With a mischievous smile, she used Angelo's shoulder to suddenly break and slipped the bar through his collar before he could even say "what".

Mellonie froze in place, her face as red a tomato, while Lafiria backed away from a struggling Angelo, laughing like a hyena. Vera said something else in Portuguese that made her face redden more, and even Angelo seemed to gain a little shade.

After shyly asking him for permission, Mellonie dug under his t-shirt, making him shiver slightly, and retrieved the chocolate bar.

"I-I'm sorry for my friends," she said in English, not only to him but to everyone sitting on that table, with her eyes still glued to the floor. "I've tried to educate them, I swear."

"Hah, you're even worse than we are," Lafiria said, making Mellonie turn back to her teammate in a flash, her brown eyes sparking with killer intent. However, instead of pursuing her, she turned back and returned to her seat, keeping her bar on her lap and away from the other two girls.

"Ok, you all know each other, don't you?" Hilary asked, looking from Angelo to the Portuguese team.

"Yeah, we're all from the same high school," Lafiria said.

"Oh, it's a shame you couldn't sign up for Portugal in time," Max said to Angelo.

"I doubt about that," Lafiria said, crossing her arms. "Pedro kept insisting about going to the tournament, especially when he found out Mellonie was going."

"Ugh, don't remind me," Mellonie said with an ugly frown.

"Who's that?" Hilary asked.

"The single most disgusting, perverted guy I've ever met. He's pretty arrogant, too," Mellonie answered with a dangerously scary spark in her eye. "But I showed him during elimination, he'll never claim he's better at beyblade than me again, and if he does he's toast. The nerve of saying I could sleep with him as consolation if I lost. But I beat him to a pulp. Serves him right."

"And I was thinking I had trouble with a dumbass," Hilary said.

"We're really unfortunate, right?" Mellonie answered with a deep sigh.

"Yeah, yeah, we're all unfortunate and guys are all stupid, but that doesn't stop you from liking one of them, isn't it?" Lafiria said, nudging her shoulder lightly and glancing at Angelo, who was already talking to the rest of the boys about something else entirely.

"Ok, maybe not all of them suck, but they're still dumb," she answered.

"Look at this on the bright side," Hilary said, lowering her voice to a whisper. "At least you're not in love with the jerk that pisses you off."

"If that's true I'm really sorry for you," Mellonie quickly said.

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to, your tone says everything. But you don't have to worry, your secret's safe with us. Lafiria and Vera might try to put you two together, though, in the worst ways possible, as you've seen."

"You do the same thing with other couples, stop complaining," Lafiria quickly said.

"So, that was a pretty wild thing you two did back there," Emily said, sitting down with Mariah and Layla next to the Portuguese girls. "Care to fill me in on the details?"

All the girls on the table had slowly gathered together in a corner to talk about who they liked and boys in general. Although Ellivah didn't want to be a part of it, both Hilary, who was very much aware of how much their previous lives were starting to reflect on the present, and Lafiria, who had overheard everything about an engagement, dragged her into the mess.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the table, things were a bit more tame.

"Which teams are already here?" Daichi asked.

"There's Japan, Italy, China, United States, Marocco, and Portugal," Ray said. "Egypt and Russia were here a while ago, but they already left."

"I think Peru and Brazil will be coming together on the next flight," Eddy said.

"What were the other countries participating?" asked Kevin.

"Mexico, Canada, Australia, Korea, South Africa and Mozambique," Kenny answered, checking his map.

"We've played against the Australians and the Brazilians, and they're pretty decent," Tyson said.

"Yeah, who did you guys play against for your friendly matches?" Daichi asked.

"We've played against Canada, they're pretty strong too. And we also played against Australia," Max said.

"Didn't that Sheila snob piss you off too? Put you to sleep to force you to play against them?" Tyson asked.

"Sheila?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow. "Not at all, she was pretty nice to us, just like the rest of the team."

"Their captain, that Evo guy, he's really tough. Managed to beat me, of all things," Rick added.

"But no one put us to sleep, what's that all about?" Max asked.

"Why do all the weird things only happen to us?" Kenny sighed.

"That's not true, chief," Ray said, with a suddenly serious tone. "We were attacked, just like you said we'd be."

"Yeah, me too," Max said. "Did they want Driger?"

"They caught us off guard and attacked Mariah," he answered with a nod.

"Really?" Tyson forced down a piece of meat. "That mustn't have sit well with you."

"It didn't," Ray answered, looking down to his crossed fingers on the table. "But there's something else bothering me from that incident."

"More than Mariah?" Kevin asked, raising an eyebrow.

"It's not like that. When I beat that girl, her bit-beast… It trespassed her. And then a group in ninja gear appeared to take her and her bey away. I tried looking for clues the next day, but I didn't find anything. I can't stop thinking about that girl, but the more I think about it, the more I realize she probably wasn't just passed out."

"The same thing happened to the guy Max beat," Rick said. "He collapsed from the energy and that dark bit-beast attacked its blader. Then some guys straight out of a TV show showed up and took him and the bey away. No one saw anything from them after that."

"In the middle of New York City, which is surprising to say the least," Emily said. "I tried tracking the group down with the security cameras, but they disappeared in the middle of Central Park."

"You have acess to the city cameras? How?" Kenny asked in astonishment.

"A bit of boldness and brushing against the law. Let's not talk about it too much."

One by one, everyone kept talking and eating, leaving the cafeteria until only the Japanese, Chinese and Americans were left, taking their time to catch up, but also because Tyson and Daichi took their time with their copious amount of food. Once both of them were finished, Ray and Max's teams suggested giving them a tour around the center of island so their could find their way to the beystadium without getting lost the next day. It was amazing how the old crater had been thoroughly used to support the entire stadium and its stage, with a retractable roof that could open and close whenever necessary.

Satisfied with the whole venue, the group headed towards the public training grounds, passing by a lavish hotel, whose bellhops worked rapidly to welcome a handful of recently arrived guests and their shinny luggage.

"Tyson! Long time no see!"

Someone rammed into him from behind and almost made him fall over, hanging from his back much like Daichi did. He and Ellivah looked quizzically at the strange turquoise haired boy, but the rest of their team, Ray and Max seemed to be happy to see him. Even Tyson's angry frown vanished when he met his eyes.

"Zeo! Get off my back, man, you're heavy."

"Haha, sorry, sorry," he said, dropping down to the floor. "Ready to defend your title again?"

"You bet I am."

Most of the people there had at least heard about Zeo, a beyblade player of his own with a powerful bit-beast and a finalist at the world championship two years before, but also a conservatoire student who played the violin, with an important concert during the Japanese elimination that stopped him from competing. To compensate, his father had gotten them both tickets for the entire championship venue.

"I'm still a little bit disappointed I didn't get to be on the team with you guys, but I'm really happy to be able to see you play."

Before Hilary could show Zeo her support, Ellivah tugged at her shirt and she turned around.

"What?"

"I don't want to be rude to your friend, but… He's strange," she whispered.

"What do you mean?" she whispered back, raising an eyebrow. Ells glanced back at Zeo, slightly stressed with whatever troubled her.

"It's hard to explain, it's so confusing…"

"Oh, I remember now, you're that robot guy who gave Ray's old team some trouble, aren'tcha?" An ankward silence set while most people there gave Kevin condescending stares, but he quickly responded with a slightly offended tone. "What, it's true."

"Even so, that's no excuse to say it like that," Ray said.

"But what did I say wrong?"

"No, it's fine," Zeo said, starting to laugh with the whole exchange and waving his hand in dismissal. "It's not that big of a secret, at least not to you."

"And you don't take it personally?" Eddy asked. "Like, at all?"

"I used to, but not anymore. Being a robot actually has pretty good benefits," he answered with a proud smile.

"Told ya it'd be the coolest," Tyson said, giving him a thumbs up, which Zeo quickly responded to the same way.

"Huh. You could learn some things from this guy," Emily said, turning to Rick.

While he proceeded to subtly threaten Emily back and Daichi freaked out with the whole thing, Ellivah approached Zeo and touched his arm cautiously with her finger, feeling relieved that her intuition was right.

"You're an experiment like me? You have very few metallic components, I think," she thought aloud.

"An experiment? Not exactly, it's more complicated than that," he answered, letting her go around and observe him at will. "But what do you mean?"

"It's like we're opposites in a way," then she bowed the same way she did to greet everyone else. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zeo."

But for Hilary all of that seemed strange. It felt like she had been hurt with the entire situation and was doing her best to hide it completely.

The conversation was concerning the tournament again and they started walking to the training grounds with Zeo tagging along, with multiple challenges stacking up on top of each other that needed to be addressed.

Their matches were mostly short and for sport, where everyone on the three teams showed off how much they had improved during the last year. Even Hilary and Dawn were able to prove their worth, surprising a lot of the players there, even if all of them already knew about her bit-beast, except for Zeo, who was astounded by its strange power.

"Can I play now?" he asked after the four-way between Tyson, Daichi, Lee and Kevin was over. "I'll play against anyone."

"Uff, I'm beat, Zeo. Sorry," Tyson said, going back to the benches for the bottles of water. When he turned around he noticed everyone was sweating like him, and started feeling sad he didn't ask to play with them sooner.

"I'll play against you," Ellivah said, standing up from her bench. "I still have some energy to give."

Since she had only played against Emily, who wanted to verify just how powerful her bit-beast was, she was still fresh and, on the back of her head, she wanted to prove to herself she was better than him.

What she didn't expect was the sheer might of Cerberus, which intimated even Dusk when she leapt from her beyblade to face the three headed bit-beast. Using her usual moves she dodged his attacks and managed to go for a tangent while Dusk sunk her teeth on one of his paws but, unlike every other bit-beast to date, even though the attack threw Zeo's beyblade and Cerberus howled in pain, the beyblade landed fine inside the stadium and the bit-beast tossed Dusk from its leg like a bad rash.

"_What?"_

Her beyblade steadied and Dusk landed on its four feet with the help of her wings.

"_He's resistant to my power?"_

"_How? That's impossible. Not even the Sacred Bit-Beasts can resist it."_

"Amazing, Zeo, your Cerberus is still pretty beast!" Tyson shouted from his seat.

"Thanks, Tyson!" he said raising his thumb and quickly turning back to the match.

"It managed to just shrug off Dusk's attack. None of us could do it so far," Kenny said.

"It might be because he's the most powerful of the Sealed Bit-Beasts," Dizzi said.

"No wonder the Saint Shields were scared of these things back then," Ray said.

"_We'll stick to the same battle plan, but we're not letting ourselves open. He'll lose eventually."_

"_Understood."_

While they traded impressions the game played on, with Dusk swerving around Cerberus for openings and Zeo meticulously closing them all while the beyblades clashed at times, some in her favour, some in his. Knowing they'd lose with a direct hit, Ellivah and Dusk worked carefully around his three jawed heads to get to one of their necks, where her power would be most effective, but when they managed to hit them the way they wanted to, Cerberus dug his other two jaws on Dusk's neck and the beyblades crashed into one another with enough force to kick up a small explosion.

When the dust settled, both of them were immobile on the centre of the stadium and everyone watching the game, either from the teams or other bystanders, applauded enthusiastically.

"I'm hungry after all these matches," Tyson said while Ellivah and Zeo traded words of respect between each other.

"When are you ever not hungry, Tyson?" Michael answered.

"I'm getting a little bit hungry, too," Gary said.

"And it's getting late. We should go back to our areas," Mariah said.

"Oh, you're right, it's late. I need to go back to the hotel too, or my dad will get worried," Zeo dashed out of the room, waving back at them. "See you tomorrow, guys!"

Outside the training grounds the three teams split up, mostly with dinner in mind.

Chapter 16 – _"Looming Threat"_

As soon as she was done eating, Ellivah excused herself, claiming she wanted to train, but in such a way that none of her teammates even seemed to notice she was gone until the door to their residence closed.

Her game with Zeo had shaken her more than she wanted to admit. Not only he was her true opposite and felt like he belonged on the team more than she did, she had never imagined a bit-beast like his could exist, and she needed to prepare in case Boris had gotten his hands on another of the sort.

She couldn't let herself be imprisioned a second time.

_I need to be stronger._

While the thought burned on her mind, the girl cast her beyblade with all her strength towards a contraption she had built from twigs and rocks, designed from the most painful corners of her mind. Resented with that sudden change in their training regime, Dusk rebounded on the construction and hit Ellivah's forehead.

"I know, Dusk. I know. But we've gotten sloppy. If that andoird managed to fight us to a draw, with a bit-beast like that, Boris can do worse."

Relunctantly, she agreed. She didn't want to be someone's toy either, having suffered that with her friend for long enough, being restrained or weakened into submission by chemicals and machines. Some of their methods left her so confused that she attacked anything that moved, unable to recognize Ellivah's voice begging her to stop.

Suddenly, while the girl grabbed her beyblade from the floor, light footsteps echoed through the woods and she turned around, readying herself for anything that could come out to meet her.

Like a demon out of the gates of Hell, Boris emerged from the brush.

"Oh, don't worry," he said softly, noticing her tense posture. "I won't force you to come with me. You'll do it on your own."

"How so?" she asked, stepping away from him.

A machiavellian smile drew on his face.

"You'll see soon enough."

There was a limit for waiting for people, and Hilary's had been crossed. She had hoped to be able to talk to Ellivah about their past lives and the curse that tied Edonisu and Hina to kill them both, but they hadn't been alone together since her last dream and she refused to show up on their room that night after claiming she had to train.

She was half-asleep when a sound made her rise from her pillow, seeing Ellivah enter the room, more pale than usual, as if afraid of something intangible and too close.

"Is there something wrong?" Hilary asked, rubbing her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Only then it seemed that Ells's eyes had noticed she was there, staring at her in worry.

"No. Everything is fine. Go back to sleep, we have a long day tomorrow."

After uttering those words mechanically, she disappeared into their bathroom, leaving Hilary to scratch her head but drop down on her pillow nonetheless, too tired to complain.

After morning practice the group had lunch on their area and then headed out for the stadium. The opening match would be the defending champion team, which meant Japan, against South Korea. The sport's popularity had flared across it and its sister country, but it was relatively recent, so the team didn't do all too well against Tyson and his crew, who needed only two matches to secure their victory. The Korean captain civilly shook Tyson's hand and returned with his team to the changing rooms.

While they sat down at one of several groups of seats reserved for the players, the Egypt and South Africa teams were introduced by the commentators and entered the stage.

"Oh, hi. We meet again," said a familiar voice from behind them after they were settled. Turning around they saw the girls and the guy from the Portuguese team, freshly arrived.

"Hey, shouldn't you be getting ready?" Tyson asked. "You're up next, right?"

"Yeah, but we're good," Lafiria said. "We've trained a lot yesterday and this morning."

"We're ready for them," Vera said, closing a fist in a challenging pose.

Their banter was interrupted by Brad Best and A. J. Tropper announcing the beginning of the first match, and the Portuguese took their seats to see it with the rest of them.

Wearing typical egypcian clothes were a grey long haired guy named Tot, team captain, with an armoured white ibis bit-beast named Wisebird, and a rainbow haired girl named Íris with an armoured grey cat bit-beast named Baast. Facing them was a very dark toned guy named Sarili, with a giraffe bit-beast, and a mulato with dreadlocks, John, who had no registered bit-beast.

The South Africans were quite a notch above the Koreans and Tyson and Daichi loudly protested that it'd be a lot more interesting facing them instead, but the Egyptians were not only skilled, that pair had good synchronization. Tot and Iris didn't waver during the entire game and remained firmly on the disk, tossing out John first, and then Sarili, who still held strong against them long enough to make a warrior proud.

The second Egyptian duo were a brunette girl named Maet, with Truthscale, a water green crocodile bit-beast, and a boy with short blue-green hair and golden streaks named Horus, with Rah, a golden and grey great hawk bit-beast. Facing them were Emil, a tall negro with fiery red eyes and Necrowe, a dark vulture bit-beast, and Johan, the only white South African, a red-haired with a hyena named Joker.

It was a much more balanced match but Maet and Horus's teamplay was slightly above Emil and Johan's, who had nerve on their side. With it, before being sent out the disk Emil managed to weaken Maet and Johan dealt her a final blow. Once they found the hawk alone, Joker and his player pounded it hard and tossed it out, giving South Africa the second victory.

For the third match, Tot joined Horus to face against Sarili and Johan, giving the audience an even match of skill and spunk.

"Well, we're up next," Mellonie said, standing up from her seat when Johan was threwn out the disk. "Let's get going, guys."

"Yeah!" Vera shouted, clicking her wrists in a macabre way.

"You can stay here if you want," Samuel said to Isabel, who looked terrified at the crowd. "You don't need to come down with us."

"N-n-no, I'll go too," she said shyly.

"You can stay with us, it's ok," Hilary said turning back and smiling at her, but Isabel jumped from her seat and hid behind him. It seemed like the idea of staying there with a group she barely knew was even more scary than sitting in plain sight.

"Sorry, Hilary, she's just too much in love with Samuel to let him go," Lafiria said with a shrug.

"Hey!" he protested, but she, Vera and Mellonie were already climbing up the stairs.

"Hurry up, loverbirds, or we'll be late!" Mellonie shouted back.

Without another word, both of them sped up the stairs behind them while the Japanese wished them good luck. Soon after that, Tot beat Sarili in a one-on-one and, with a handshake, both teams left the stage, giving place to the teams from Portugal and Mozambique.

Going first would be the insane duo of Lafiria and Vera against Samora and Armando, very dark skinned twins from Angola who had gone to Mozambique to qualify for the tournament. Without wanting to waste any time, Vera and Lafiria summoned their bit-beasts as soon as they could, an armoured white wolf with wings of ice, Eiss, and an armoured orange Pegasus with blue wings, Volenta. In response, the twins called for their bit-beasts as well, the dark elephant Brutemoth, and the gazelle Skipper.

Volenta and Skipper both chased after each other in a fast paced dance, trying to dodge hits while landing their own, but without actually managing to hit their foe, while Eiss and Brutemoth butt heads, and the white beyblade was slowly pushed back. However, Lafiria's moves seemed to draw Skipper close to Brutemoth, and once they were close enough her orange beyblade turned around with blinding speed and clashed with the two of them while the blue horn on the Pegasus started to glow. The beyblades started spinning noticibly slower and Eiss gained new strength, ramming into them as well and pushing them back, in the midst of a snowy storm and Volenta's help.

The twins didn't give up easily, but they were soundly defeated.

Before she returned to her bench, Lafiria shouted something in Portuguese to the Mozambican bench, making their technician, a balding man in his forties, and a young, dirty blond boy laugh for a while. With a couple of exchanges between the team members the boy stood up and joined another, older teenager, a Mozambicam mulato named Mariano, to face against Mellonie and Samuel.

Their match was over in half the time of the previous one. Daniel, the young boy, had his beyblade catapulted by Mariano's green one and hit Samuel in a dangerous tangent, making him wobble out of control. The lack of balance was used by Mariano to toss him out the disk before he could even blink.

"What a move! What is this insane combination?" A. J. Trooper said while, seeing herself in a pinch, Mellonie gathered her strength to summoner her bit-beast, Stellar.

"Daniel is their spare player, but he's making the Portuguese run for their money," Brad Best said.

"It makes sense when you are challenged by your own sister."

"Sister?" Daichi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Who's his sister?"

"Yeah, I don't remember any of them mentioning it," Hilary said, going through her conversations around the table with the girls the previous day.

To face Mellonie's strange golden feline bit-beast, with red stripes and long, large ears it used to fly, Daniel summoned a completely black dog bit-beast named Blackie and Mariano summoned an emerald green spitting snake named Spitzer. Using its venom to blind Stellar, Spitzer immobilized it while Blackie rammed into it, tossing it out the disk as well.

For the third match, Lafiria joined Mellonie, rubbing her hands with a vicious smile, while Jacinto, another negro, joined Daniel, who also rubbed his hands with a vicious smile, like a separate competition between the two of them to see who looked sillier.

"Guess she's his sister," Tyson said.

As soon as they beyblades landed on the disk Volenta and Blackie emerged from their beyblades and started chasing one another. With a sigh, Mellonie summoned her Stellar and, in turn, Jacinto summoned a torquioise alligator he called Riverjaws, leaving the brothers to themselves while using fire and golden sparks like shooting stars from the feline against the scales and jaws of the alligator. Instead of it being a two-on-two match, it had become two one-on-one matches, but everyone cheered them on just the same.

Mellonie and Stellar won against Jacinto and Riverjaws, but with one shout from Lafiria after she suggested something, Mellonie called her beyblade back and turned around for the bench, wishing her friend good luck. Lafiria was faster but Daniel was stronger, and she avaded their direct hits while scraping at them, but there were still some attacks her Pegasus couldn't avoid and her beyblade took a beating just like his. In the end she got a good angle and hit him from below, making his beyblade fly right into his hands.

After collecting her beyblade, Lafiria ran for the other side of the stadium and hugged her brother, whose head hung low from the defeat, while the Mozambicam techinican joined them to cheer him up as well with the rest of his team, and some of the audience chanted his name. Eventually he broke off from Lafiria, laughing, and soon after everyone was clearing the stage to let the Italian and Australian teams play.

"You were pretty good back there," Tyson said when the Portuguese team returned to their seats.

"Rachid said you were good, but you don't seem anything special to me," Daichi said, looking suspiciously at Samuel.

"I was caught off guard. Lafiria's brother comes up with the wildest things," he answered with a shrug.

"Let it Rip!"

They all turned to the stadium to see Robert and Oliver launching their beyblades against Evo and Aggro's. The European duo had been training intensely, and they managed to secure their win without much difficulty, making Tyson even more thrilled to meet them later in the tournament.

For the second match, Henry and Angelo would be playing against Roo and Sheila, The simple fact that Mellonie's interest was on the center stage triggered Lafiria and Vera into nagging her for the entire match. He was an excellent player, and the ability of his bit-beast, Vita, a silver wolf with golden wings, was as scary as it had sounded when they spoke of it on the cafeteria the previous day. Altought it wasn't an exceptional attacker or defender, it could transfer his partner's damage to other beyblades and weaken their attacks while strengthening their own. But the Australians quickly realized it couldn't transfer damage done to itself, and Sheila took advantage of it to throw Angelo off the disk after Roo was defeated. Left alone with Henry's Amphilyon, Kooka fought hard, but not enough to earn them a third game.

"Mellonie, you are aware that we're fighting Angelo's team next round aren't you?" Lafiria reminded while Hilary watched the enamoured girl muse over her beloved down below. After wtinessing the chaotic state she fell in, Hilary turned back to the stadium to see the following match.

"Isn't that way too many people down there?" Daichi asked, pointing at one of the benches. Peru would be playing against Russia and, although the northen team itself was shorter than the rest of them, seemingly without a spare player, all around their bench sat several people with laptops and other devices, as if they had been allowed several technicians.

The one appointed as the Russian tech, standing next to the players with a very civil posture, shocked the very core of Tyson's soul.

"Wait a minute, isn't that Boris?" he shouted, standing from his seat and pointing at him.

"What's he doing here?" Kenny said, pushing off a shiver.

"What? Why was he allowed in this championship?" Hilary wondered. "As Russia's tech, nonetheless."

"He's asking to get his ass kicked again, he'll see what we can do," Daichi shouted, standing on his seat. Then he put his hands over his mouth and shouted from the top of his lungs. "Boris, you're not getting away this time!"

His words didn't reach his ears, and he returned to his seat with two of the players to let the other two advance to start the first game against Peru's duo, while the Portuguese started asking the group why the effusive reactions.

While he hadn't said anything, Kai felt his rage build up and turned to Ellivah, knowing she also had strong reason to hate him. Instead of anger, he found an expression of terror matching the one he had seen when she saw Kurai's DarkWindash. Following her stare, he realized she wasn't looking at Boris, but one of the scientists around the bench. However, try as he might, he couldn't recognize any of them. When he turned back to her, she had managed to recompose, but her face was like whitewash.

In an irrational moment of compassion, he put a hand over her shoulder. She turned towards him a bit surprised, but then nodded in silence, and turned back to the stadium, with a strange hint deep on her eyes that didn't resonate with the rest.

A little bit embarrassed and feeling out of character, Kai pulled his hand from her and turned for the stadium as well, before anyone could come up with a wrong interpretation for his action.

The first game would be played with Nikolai and Alexei, a purple haired and a dark haired guy, both of them expressionless, as if they were there on just a mission, against Manco and Atoc, two determined mulatos who were very good players. However, Boris's team were clearly under the influence of something more, not insanity like their coach, but a cold and calculated style that gave them the impression of being assassins of a much worse calibre than Rachid's bodyguards.

With their bit-beasts, a great yellow spider with a black underbelly called Karakut, and a red-brown warthog named Bonecrusher, both pumped by the perfected version of Dark Power, the Russians beat their opponents to a pulp, leaving the remains of their beyblades scattered all across the stadium while their bits were threwn right into their hands, including the Peruan bit-beasts that dwelled inside.

Keen about recovering them, the next duo stepped up, but the result for the second match was unchanged, as if predetermined by fate. The Russians demanded a third battle to play against Peru's spare player, but they refused their request and left the stage, demanding to talk to the organizer of the event about the Russians's behaviour, threatning to kick them out of the championship for stealing other players' bit-beasts.

"He's still the same bastard, that damn Boris," Tyson said clutching his fist, while the technician shrugged off the Peruan threats and urged his personnel to return to the locker rooms.

"At least Brooklyn seemed like a fairly normal person at first…" Hilary admitted.

"Yeah, that team its like they're all robots," Daichi said.

"I think they deserve a good punch on the face and a kick in the butt," Mellonie said, as her eyes lit with rage. "And they're all men, I can bet their also hella sexists."

"Come again?" Hilary asked, to make sure she hadn't misheard her priorities.

"Don't mind her. At least 90% of the male population in the world are hella sexists for her," Lafiria said with a sigh. Mellonie's subsequent protests fell to deaf ears as the next teams were getting announced, just as Ellivah excusing herself and leaving them was also unnoticed by almost everyone on the stands with them.

Tyson booed prince Rachid as soon as he emerged from the locker rooms, waving at the crowd with the arrogance of a monarch, and only stopped when Hilary got fed up with it, burying a fist over his head to silence him as the first doubles were introduced. Rachid would be playing with Layla against Carlos and Helena from Mexico, but no one got to see how good they were because the Morrocan duo threw them out with the speed and precision of a bullet seconds after touching the disk, leaving them to grit their teeth while Rachid bowed deeply to the audience's applause.

Although the second game was far more balanced, when you're working for a country's king and he orders you not to lose in front of his son and a large crowd, there is little option other than obeying, so Rachid's bodyguards secured their victory, granting Saudi Arabia passage into the next round.

The second to last game would be Brazil against China, a match everyone on the group was looking forward to see. For the first game Ray would pair up with Mariah to face Fábio and Maribel, and on the mark the four beyblades flew out with vigor to the disk.

The synchronization between Ray and Mariah was better than the Moroccan couple and gave Fábio and Maribel little chance of escaping, with Driger and Galux weaving their trails in a closing circle like lions stalking their prey.

"Wow! And we had had trouble beating those guys back in Brazil," Tyson said as the Brazilian duo was tossed from the disk.

"The way Ray's evolved is incredible!" Kenny said.

"They're really a lot like the prince and his bride from before," Mellonie said.

"I see another couple ready to be put together," Vera said, rubbing her hands.

"They _are_ one, Vera," Lafiria said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, if you were listening yesterday you'd know."

"Oh. But we still have… Let's see… Four couples to put together, right?"

"Yeah, we have our work cut out for us."

Thinking she was definitely a member of one of those couples, Hilary felt a shiver down her spine when she saw the mischievous smiles on their faces.

The game between Lee and Gary against Sol and Hélder didn't end as fast, but the Chinese secured their absolute victory and moved on to the next round.

The last match of the day would be between Canada and the United States, and Tyson made himself be heard when Max was announced to play with Michael. Draciel's defences proved to be stronger than ever, and with Trygle's tight assault the Canadian beyblades were sent flying. Eddy and Rick's match didn't last long either, and soon all matches of the day were finished.

Cap.: 17 – _"Betrayal"_

After splitting from the Portuguese, the group returned to their area while chatting about the games, keeping the image of Boris and the Russians silently in the back of their minds, waiting to bring it out when the time was right and they could properly deal with him.

On the gate to their cherry blossom woods, before the Shinto styled manor where they had their rooms and private training grounds, was a pinned note issuing a friendly match between them and the Russian team, signed by Boris. Recovering from the intial shock and denying from partaking in such a request, Hilary realized someone hadn't given her opinion. In fact, she wasn't even there.

"Where's Ells?" she asked, looking about into the woods, feeling her heart sink with fright.

"Yeah, now that you mention it I haven't seen her in a while…" Kenny said looking about as well.

"She said she needed to go somewhere and left during the games today, but that's all I remember," Daichi said.

"Oh, yeah, but that was right after the match with the Russians," Tyson said, remembering it as well. "What if she got into some sort of trouble with them again?"

"She's not like you, Tyson, she's not a parabolic antenna for trouble," Hilary said, more to convince herself that she was all right than annoying him.

"But Tyson might have a point," Kenny said. "And the only way to be sure is by taking this challenge."

"I don't like this…" Hilary thought aloud.

"If we need to fight we'll just win," Daichi quickly said. "They're a bunch of weirdos and we're definitely better than them. We need to know if they have Ells or not, right Kai?"

"We should find her," he said with a nod, but keeping a very pensive expression.

Five minutes later they were heading out for one of beystadiums scattered across the island, mostly for the tourists to enjoy, letting the sun set behind their backs, bringing the cool of evening above its fading light. The Russian team was already at the ready, with a fifth undistinguishable player just out of reach of a lamp above the disk, but Boris stood below the lamp, letting himself alone been perfectly recognizable.

"So, you've shown," he said, with a triumphant smile on the corner of his twisted mouth. "I see our demonstration this afternoon didn't scare you at all. But, then again, you're guardians of Sacred Beasts. You wouldn't have such a duty if you were cowards."

"As if we're scared of you. We've beaten you before, and we'll beat you again," Tyson answered with contempt. That told them one thing, at least. If Boris was holding Ells, the first thing he'd do was use her as a bargaining chip, and that didn't happen.

"Good. Then let us fight again."

"And you'll leave us alone if we win," Hilary said, stepping forward before the disk. Obviously she didn't like him before, when they were forced to fight him and BEGA, but when she remembered Ells's condition when they rescued her from him, everything she told them about him and her past, and the weeks she spent recovering in bed, she was left livid just from glancing at him from afar. Without a word, Kai stepped next to her, and Boris turned back a couple of steps, ordering Nikolai and Alexei to face them.

The Russians attacks were precise and powerful, but they were prepared and hit them back with equal strength. Seeing they wouldn't be as easy to defeat the the Peruans, Nikolai summoned his yellow spider, Karakut, and Alexei summoned his red warthog Bonecrusher, and Hilary and Kai followed suit, unwilling to get left behind.

While Bonecrusher immediately turned to Dranzer, Karakurt used electrified webs to slow down and confuse Dawn. However, the attacks on her beyblade were nothing she hadn't handle before and, keeping focus, Hilary could direct her bit-beast to dodge its tackle, letting the spider lunge forward and its beyblade lose balance. Using the window of opportunity, Dawn cleared the webbings from its wings and Hilary's beyblade dashed towards Alexei's. He wasn't caught off guard and Bonecrusher ducked its head not to be caught by the dragon's aerial tackle, but he did chase after Hilary like she had hoped him to. Dawn glided at the edge of the stadium with Bonecrusher just behind her and, as they passed by one of its holes, Dranzer dashed from the side, hitting the Russian with the force of a truck. Unphased, he picked up his beyblade from a tree trunk while Karakurt caught Dawn again, rendering it immobile but, before he could hit them, Dranzer intervened, with a tight attack pattern that didn't even allow the spider to charge its electrical attack. In seconds he had pushed the yellow beyblade to the edge of the disk and, with a final uncerimounious blow, expelled it.

While Dranzer and Dawn returned to their bladers' hands Kai frowned, thinking that had been way too easy. However, as Boris recognized their victory, Tyson shouted a confident and cocky "obviously", and advanced for the disk with Daichi, who was also pretty sure they had a win on their hands, while Mikhail stepped forward.

"Pavel isn't feeling his best after today's game, so I'll have my spare player join," he said with a smirk.

Daichi was ready to say Pavel looked fine and he wanted to beat his ass for stealing the Peruan bit-beast, but all his words died on his throat when the fifth person walked into the street light, with no expression and her eyes greyed out from a lack of care, as if the little warmth she had gained with them was sapped in a fleeting moment.

"Ells!" Hilary said in disbelief. "What are you doing here? We've looked for you everywhere."

Without answering, Ellivah only looked back at her. No, not even that. She looked her way, but her eyes weren't seeing Hilary, instead looking beyond her as if she wasn't truly there, a cold stare which froze both her body and her train of thought.

"Ells…?"

"My most perfect specimen," Boris answered. "What do you think? Took you all for fools, didn't she? A very good job of making you all believe she was your friend. And now we have all the information on you that we needed," his face twisted into an avatar of anger. "If I can't have my BEGA, and my fame and fortune, its only fair you don't get to have your bit-beasts or your reputation as champions. So, will you keep playing, or are you walking away?" he added, letting his fake smile return to him.

"As if we're scared of you!" Tyson shouted back, boiling with rage. "But if we win I want Ells to explain what the hell's going on herself!"

Boris's only answer was a smug smile, as if such a thought was completely absurd and, as much as it terrorized her, Hilary had to admit he had a pint of reason. At best, they had only been able to draw against Ells during practice. She was far from being a pushover and even Tyson had to know that. Had she really been a spy for Boris during all that time? But then why risking herself to protect the Equilibrium of Light? Why did he had his thugs beat her up? Had that all been staged?

Something wasn't right there. It couldn't be.

Dusk was immediately called from her beyblade and a thick dark aura surrounded her, chilling them to the bone. However, she stayed immobile, waiting for something, while Mikhail's Clawdigger bit-beast meticulously defended her from Dragoon and Strata Dragoon, making it seem like he had been specifically trained for that task.

When she was ready, Ells closed her eyes and let a dark light envelop her. She raised her hand towards Daichi's beyblade and, in on swift motion, opened her eyes and closed her hand. With a deep roar, both his beyblade and his bit-beast were surrounded in the same dark light.

"Strata Dragoon!"

"Call him back, Daichi, hurry!"

"I can't, it's like he's paralyzed, he's not listening to me, I can't make him move!"

"Help him, Dragoon!"

Before they could make it there the golden dragon became light and was sucked inside of Ellivah, becoming an image on her right arm, and his beyblade stopped spinning completely.

"No, Strata Dragoon!"

"Give him back, Ells!" Tyson shouted enraged. Without a word, she called Dusk back to her hands while, still in shock, Tyson didn't see Mikhail's sudden attack that tossed him and Dragoon out without any resistance.

"It appears we have a draw," Boris said while he rushed to pick up his beyblade, checking that his bit-beast was still within it. "We'll take good care of Strata Dragoon, unless, of course, you'd lake to wager him on a third game."

"Bring it on, Boris!" Tyson roared, preparing his beyblade a second time. Kai stepped beside him before Hilary could. Mikhail swapped places with Nikolai and Boris gave them the go signal.

Her black beyblade mashed against Dragoon while Nikolai kept Kai busy and stopped him from helping Tyson. Soon four beast were rising from their beyblades and the sky above became an amalgamation of light and speed that few could understand.

"Why are you doing this?" Tyson shouted.

"I thought you had to win in order for me to tell you," Ellivah answered with the impartiality of a statue.

Gritting his teeth Tyson had Dragoon attack Dusk once more, but she dodged out of the way, unconcerned in the slightest. It seemed the hound bit-beast and her master were in deep conversation, contemplating their foes before lashing out. Dragoon dodged another bite, but Dusk's paws managed to push him out of balance just enough time for Ellivah to focus on him and split him from his beyblade like she had done before.

Just like Daichi had claimed, all connection Tyson had to his bit-beast were gone, crushed by her hand.

"Dragoon!"

He became blue light and vanished inside of Ellivah, hiding under her clothes as if ashamed of his actions.

Her task complete, Ellivah called Dusk back to her hand.

"What are you doing? You still have to get Dranzer and Dawn," Boris said, raising an eyebrow just as Hilary prepared her beyblade to help Kai, rules be dammed.

"I have no more power left. I can fight them if you insist, but Dawn will defeat me and you'll lose both dragons," she answered, turning around and walking away from the disk, without stopping or looking back at anyone.

Clicking his tongue, Nikolai collected his beyblade as well and followed her with the rest of the team and Boris, who kept silent, leaving the shocked youths behind without the shade of an answer.

The door to their private training room opening was the only thing that brought their heads back up, if only for a moment of surprise.

"Zeo? How did you get here? It's not supposed for people who don't belong to the teams to come in here," Kenny asked.

"It's fine, no one saw me," he said unconcerned, but his smile quickly vanished as he looked at the thoughtful, gloom faces of everyone inside the room. "Did something happen?"

For a while no one answered him, looking down to their feet or their laps, remembering how painful everything had been, until Dizzi sighed and spoke, sounding sad and concerned.

"Dragoon and Strata Dragoon were stolen by Ells yesterday."

"What? Your fifth player? How? Why?" he asked in shock

"You know who Boris is, right?" Hilary said. "He says she was nothing but his spy all along, and all she wanted from us was information that he could use to steal the bit-beasts. But I don't believe that. She's helped us so much and she has all the reason in the world to hate him. I can't believe she's been working for him all this time when all she wanted was to get away from him."

"Maybe something happened to her like what happened to me?" he asked after pondering for a moment. "Maybe there's something else she wants even more, and the only way she can get it is by working with him, like I wanted to become human so I had to help my dad."

"I don't know, Zeo. She's more like the type of person who always tries to do everything by herself," Tyson said.

"She lied to us about knowing him the first time. How can we be sure she told us the whole truth? I never really trusted her, you know," Daichi said.

"There has to be a very strong reason for her to have done this!" Hilary shouted, slamming her hand on the table. "I don't believe she's just a traitor, she's done way too much for us to be one!"

"Will you knock it off? We've argued about this enough last night!" Kenny shouted, silencing everyone in the room. Hilary, Tyson and Daichi had shouted at each other most of the night, arguing about Ells's true alignment, hurt from losing their bit-beasts and seeking out to know an answer in any possible way, with or without Hilary's support, and no one got too much sleep. Because she had helped Dizzi return to his laptop, Kenny also wanted to believe there was something else going on they weren't aware of, but didn't speak out his opinion when Hilary's voice was enough for two or three. On the other hand, Kai hadn't said a word at all after seeing her step into the light, as if he was stuck in that moment, refusing to say anything about it regardless of how much Tyson or Daichi tugged at him. Usually Hilary would be the first to force him to spill it out, especially when he was the closest of the boys to her, but when he turned at them they lost their voice to his chilling stare, and she lost whatever courage she had to ask him anything.

With Zeo bolstering them, they managed to work up the strength to practice with new parings so that Tyson and Daichi could be paired with someone with a bit-beast, but things were looking dim for them on the tournament. They would be facing the Egyptian team, and they had been meticulous the previous day. What if they didn't make it through and fulfilled Boris's desire?

A slight sigh of relief came across them once they looked over the order for the games that day, and realized it had been reversed. Their match was the last, and the first would be none other than China against the United States. They had hoped to be able to talk to Ray and Max's team and ask for help, if they could give them any, but if their match was the first it would have to wait until they were done.

"Hey, it's the Japs again. Hey, this way!"

Turning for the familiar voice, they saw the Portuguese girls and boy climbing up the stairs for their seats in the audience, urging them to follow along. Even when they were all sitting down and pretty silent, the girls merely exchanged some concerned words in their native language before proceesing to ignore their mood, returning to their mischevious smiles and giggles and keeping their nose out of troubling affairs.

"You guys are friends of both the Americans and the Chinese, aren't you?" Mellonie asked a bit absent mindly. "It must be even more exciting for you to watch this game."

It didn't take too long for Hilary to see what Mellonie was trying to find, looking about the stands.

"He's sitting by that entrance with the rest of his team," she said, poiting at the Europeans with her head.

"W-Whatever do you mean?" she asked, turning there anyway and forming a face so lame that Hilary prayed to all Gods she knew to never to show up in hers.

"Don't you want to sit over there Mellonie? They're kinda tight, you'd have to sit on his lap, but I guess that's fine with him."

"Shut up, Lafiria," she quickly answered, very blushed. "E se eles contarem?"

"They'd save us the trouble," Vera answered joyfully.

"Que más."

She was spared any more replies thanks to the commentators announcing the beginning of the second day of the championship, and everyone turned their attention to the beystadium and the opposing teams entering the stage.

Tyson and Daichi cheered hard for all of their introductions, from Ray and Kevin to Rick and Eddy, even if the girls found weird that Mariah wasn't going to partner with her boyfriend. However, Galman kept Rock Bison occupied and Rick furious while Driger didn't give Trypio room to breath. Tyson didn't expect a different outcome, anyway. Ray would never lose being given a chance to fight Max, and it was probably mutual.

Ray used an opportunity created by Kevin to take out Rick and the duo defeated Eddy despite his best efforts. He gave them a thumbs up while Rick stormed back to the bench and let Max and Michael take their place. Facing them would be Lee and Gary, defiant and as ready as ever. At first they balanced each other out, but one by one their bit-beasts were summoned and, while the Portuguese team watched them in awe, Tyson wondered how would Max handle the raw power the Chinese double could dish out.

However, Draciel's defences were more than enough to handle Galeon and Galzzy, creating oportunities Trygle took absolute advantage of. When they were worn out, using Michael's bey as a lever, Max shoot towards their foes and took them out in a single blow.

For the final fight they had chosen Ray and Lee against Max and Rick, which wasn't surprising considering they were all the aces of each team. Tyson found himself wishing to be there and playing, instead of being confined to the bench unsure who to even cheer for.

The Chinese quickly caught up to the Americans, but they easily dodged the first attack. Then, Driger and Galeon took a sharp turn backwards and crashed violently with Draciel and Rock Bison. A brick on one of their heads wouldn't be able to break their focus.

Ray and Lee traded a brief stare and their beys broke off towards the other side of the dish.

"Here they come."

"I'm ready for anything," Rick spat out.

Both of them attacked Rock Bison, but Draciel got in the way of the second attack and Rick managed to push them away. With an even distance again, Driger went straight for Draciel while Galleon went straight for Rock Bison. Rick was faster but Lee was stronger and they both knew it. However, a quick glance at their partners and they also knew that wasn't a normal two on two fight anymore. Not when Ray and Max's beys sparked like crazy and they just smiled with sweat drops forming on their foreheads.

"You ready for the beatdown of your life?" Rick asked.

"Come and get it," Lee smirked back.

"Wait, that's just like me and my brother," Lafiria said on the stands, noticing the turn on the dish below. "They're not playing as a team anymore."

"Of course not," Tyson answered. Rick was using his speed to hit Lee from all sorts of angles, but he was thoughting it out, waiting for his opening. "Ray and Max wanted this forever, they're fighting one on one."

"Who do you think's going to win?" Vera asked.

"I dunno, but look at them go! They're all so great!"

Rock Bison had found his way to the top of Galleon and Rick felt victory in his grasp, but Lee finally snaped in action and called for the black lion, who quickly shook off the yellow bey and hit it hard enough to reach the border of the stadium. Caught off guard, Rick clicked his tongue but called on his bit-beast as well, knowing another play like that probably wouldn't work anymore.

"Why couldn't we fight them early in the tournament? This sucks," Daichi pouted.

On their side, Max focused on defending against Driger and wearing him and Ray out, knowing it was the best shot he had at victory, but Ray knew him too well and was making their lives difficult, striking hard and fast and giving him scarce opportunities to counter attack. Whatever chances he got he took to the fullest, pressuring Ray to keep the assault before he'd give the final slip.

Attacking Lee directly was never an option because Galleon was the heavier bey and Rick knew it, and soon he found himself in the back foot, waiting for openings to attack instead of taking the offensive. It was a position he didn't like being in, and Lee knew how to take advantage of that. As he feinted an attack, he got Rick's bey out of balance and, using the dish as a ramp, managed to land on top of him while Galleon held onto Rock Bison's back with its claws and teeth.

"That does it! Using my moves against me!"

"Yes, but I'll add a twist in the end. Black Lightning, Galleon!"

"Drop Rock! Now!"

Both beys sparked from the electricity and the hardened bey made it hard to keep steady. Suddenly the beyblades shot out in opposite directions, as the forces finally gave in, and landed behind their recpective owners while the bit-beasts, both fallen from the attacks, vanished within.

Rick clicked his tongue and Lee sighed, and both turned towards their partners. They had both dodged the incoming beys and were now back at each other's throats. It was just like old times. Fighting old friends, not as a practice session like so many done in the past, but a full-fledged game where they had to give it their all to come out victorious for their teams. The adrenaline rush alone made it an incredible feeling that no one should be able to take away from them.

However, Max was starting to lose focus. It wasn't just for the win that time. Ahead of them was going to be either the Saudi Arabians or the Russians, and he couldn't forget about the Russians. Not when they had those Dark Beasts at their disposal. They had attacked Mariah, but according to Ray's description it had been a direct hit. Rick had gotten him back to the PPB with two broken ribs and a bad stomach, and that octopus hadn't even touched him. And the pain was unforgettable.

"_I can't let them go through that. I just can't."_

"_You shouldn't have to burden everything by yourself."_

"_I know I don't, but I don't want it happening to the people I care about."_

"_I can understand that."_

Suddenly Draciel came out of its beyblade and pushed the white bey back.

"That's strange," Hilary said. "Max usually doesn't call Draciel first."

Even if Driger quickly came out to face the great tortoise, Ray raised an eyebrow. Something was wrong, but he couldn't stop and ask why Max was nervous. That was still an intense game and he had to give his all. Driger agreed and they pressed on their attack. As he expected, Max and Draciel weren't defending as well as before and started losing ground. However, the more he pushed back, the more out of focus Max seemed to become.

That wasn't just the fear of losing, it couldn't be.

What was going on?

"Max!"

He looked up from the stadium to find a subtly angry Ray on the other side.

"Is this a joke? We've been practicing and putting in effort for an entire year and this is all you have to show for it? You're fighting me, Max! No one else!"

"What's going on down there?" Mellonie asked, trying to make sense of what Ray was saying over the crowd.

"Max is acting really strange, this playstyle isn't like him at all," Kenny said analysing the lacking data from Draciel.

"Snap out of it, Max! You gotta give Ray the game of your life or you're gonna regret it!" Tyson shouted.

At the core of Ray's words was a wake up call. Driger's fangs only caught Draciel's arm guard and it tossed the tiger aside.

"Thanks, Ray. I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Hmph. Go, Driger!"

"Oh, no, you don't!"

The white tiger's claws met with the black tortoise's guards as if it was a boxer while the beys below were neck and neck. Ray attacked with speed and power, but Max was focused on him and how to mitigate his attacks and counter properly. He was starting to have fun.

With that, his bey suddenly dodged away from one of Ray's attacks. He evaded the counter, but as he attacked again Draciel simply moved out of the way, and every time he slipped through his every manouver Ray's smile grew wider.

"Do you think you can attack the sea, Ray? Go, Draciel! Aqua Shield!"

From the green bey a whirlpool formed, extending towards Driger that was pushed to a corner. It was easy picking, but nothing about a tiger was easy.

"If you can't attack the water, attack what's in it. Driger, Thunder Slash!"

The sparks flying from the silver beyblade electrified the water and the entire soaked metal dish. Driger's claws managed to find their way under Draciel's arm guards and it roared, but the tortoise managed to grab its head and slowly stop it from reaching its neck.

"Come on, Driger! Push through!"

"Don't give up, Draciel!"

Down below the beys were finally neck and neck again, surrounded by electrified water that get on their curcuits and only made things harder to navigate, but it didn't so much as dent the amount of friction between them.

But the weakness of one was greater than the other. Another spark immobilized Draciel just long enough for Driger to hit its mark. Both bit-beasts vanished and their attacks gradually lost potency, and one of them stopped spinning.

"The winner is Ray Kon from China."

"That was incredible!" Tyson yelled. "What a great game!"

"Yeah, Ray's looking insane right now. He might give you a hard time, Tyson," Lafiria said.

"Right," he answered, suddenly without any energy, as if the prospect of fighting him was something dreadful. She looked back to her teammates and shrugged.

"They might have a chance," Hilary said, turning to Kenny and Dizzy.

"I sure hope so," the computer replied.

Shortly after the teams greeted each other and the stands one final time, Kenny's phone rang and he quickly picked up. After a few quick words of encouragement he hung up and turned to Tyson.

"Max wants to talk to you."

"Now? Why?"

"Dunno, he didn't want to say. He said he'd be waiting for you by the stairs to the D block."

"Alright. Catch you later, guys."

As he arrived to the designated location, he quickly spotted Ray there as well, but didn't think much of it. There was a lot he could say about that game and how he'd beat them both if he had been on the stadium instead.

"Hey, guys! That was awesome! You had me on the edge of my seat the whole time," Tyson said with a smile from ear to ear as he approached them.

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun," Max said.

"We always do when we play against each other," Ray said.

"Yeah, but you're not fighting one of us next," Max answered, his smile gone from his face.

"What's wrong, Max? You don't think I can beat the Russians?"

"And they still have to go through that snobbish excuse of a prince first," Tyson remembered.

"That's not what I'm worried about. Actually that snobbish prince might be in danger, too."

"Are you talking about the way the Dark Beasts can attack us? But we know that."

"Ray, you said Mariah was hit with a direct attack, right?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure it was the bit-beast and not the beyblade that did it."

"That wasn't what happened with me. Neither the bit-beast or the beyblade touched me during the whole thing. But when I woke up at the PPB, I had two broken ribs. It attacked me through Draciel."

"What?"

"It has to be. When Draciel was squeezed by that octapus thing, I could barely breathe. But right now we were going all out and I feel just fine."

"Now that you mention it, I had a couple of bruises after we left the forest, but I just assumed they were from going around on the trees… We couldn't go on the offensive against that bit-beast so it didn't do much to Driger, but apparently it did something."

"They might be using the connection we have to our bit-beasts to get to us," Max said. "You have to be careful."

"I understand now, Max. I'll let the rest of the White Tigers know. Thank you."

"Yeah, I might not have to deal with that," Tyson muttered between his teeth.

"What do you mean, Tyson?" Max asked, almost in shock. "You don't think you can win against Egypt?"

"I don't have Dragoon. Ellivah stole him and Strata Dragoon yesterday night."

"What?"

"Why would she do that? I thought she was your friend," Max said.

"Yeah, she looked really close to Kai and Hilary."

"I don't know, alright?" Tyson snapped at them. They traded worried gazes while he took a deep breath to calm down and face what was coming. On the arena the applause suddenly roared, as the match between Russia and Saudi Arabia was about to start. "All of a sudden she's betraying us and working for Boris. Kai and Hilary still have their bit-beasts, but it's not looking good."

"Have faith, Tyson. We'll help you get Dragoon and Strata Dragoon back after the matches today," Max said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"You can count on us. We'll find them," Ray said.

"Thanks, you guys. I'll let the rest of the team know. And I'm not about to give up just yet. Those sand dwellers won't even know what hit them."

"Right, that's not your style," Max said, shrugging and shaking his head.

Saying goodbye, the three of them split up and Tyson returned to the stands. Everything was ready for the start of the first game, so he merely sat down and claimed he'd let them know everything afterwards once Daichi started pestering him about what Max wanted to tell him.

Like their previous match, Rachid and Layla stepped up first to face against Nikolai and Alexei, but, unlike what they had expected, the prince said nothing to Ellivah, sitting on the opposing team's bench. With a simple word exchange with his partner, both of them methodically prepared their beyblades and got into position, ready to face their immediate foes.

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

For a while the four beys kept their distance and only quick blows were exchanged as the Arabians tested for themselves the strength of the Russian duo. Their opponents rapidly went on the offensive, chasing Desert Rose and Ruby Sun around the dish, but with a subtle signal, Rachid and Layla's beyblades suddenly turned around and met Bonecrusher and Karakut head on, throwing them back, but not outside. As they dashed to catch up for a hopefully final blow, the beyblades steadied with the power of their released bit-beasts, forcing Layla and Rachid to break their formation and fall back as they called for their own.

Karakurt aimed for Desert Rose as the spider threw an electrified web at the eagle, but Rachid dodged the attack at a hair's breath and, with the short distance, threw it back towards Ruby Sun in a flash, who turned around and kicked the spider, with enough height and strenght that it should fall outside of the disk. However, using the side of the stadium as a ramp, Bonecrusher jumped and collided with it midair, making it fall back inside the stadium and still spinning, with Rachid and Layla already on top of them both. The collision threw both of their beyblades back, much to their surprise and horror, as the Russian beys steadied and their bit-beast's dark aura thickened with power.

Gritting his teeth, Rachid told Layla to stay close as they dashed back towards them, but didn't have the time to adapt their plan as they hit with more strenght than he had thought and pushed back Desert Rose. Nikolai and Alexei collapsed on Ruby Sun and, with a shout, its player took a hand to her chest.

"Layla, what's wrong?" Rachid quickly asked, turning her way.

"I-I don't know, but I'll be fine. I can still fight."

"Don't be reckless!"

His beyblade met the other three and he forced Alexei to turn his attention towards him. However, as soon as their beys collided and his Desert Rose's talons met Bonecrusher's teeth, he felt a pang of pain on his stomach, as if someone had just punched him from thin air. He glanced back at Layla as the pieces started to come together and frowned, making a dangerous plan for dangerous foes.

Karakurt had managed to tangle Ruby Sun in a web, making its beyblade spin completely out of balance, and it prepared for a final blow but Desert Rose was still faster. The green eagle tackled the spider out of its collision path with Layla's hare, but its beyblade took a sharp turn afterwards and hit hers, throwing it towards her hands and forcing Ruby Sun to return to its bit.

"Why did you do that?" she shouted as Desert Rose turned around to face Karakurt and Bonecrusher on its own.

"A king needs to protect his subjects, especially his wife," Rachid answered. "And Ruby Sun's much better right there, in your hands, than in theirs."

"But-"

"Now stand back, I'm going for it."

Still upset that he refused to let her participate further, but recognizing what he was talking about, Layla turned around and walked to her team's bench, still rubbing her chest and wondering what had hit her during the game.

Meanwhile, Boris's team charge was interrupted by a gust of wind created from Desert Rose's wings, buying Rachid time to focus. It was an attack he wanted to save until the final, but if he didn't use it there he would not even make it into the final.

"I'll show you just what I'm capable of. Fury of the Sands!"

His bit-beast cried out and his beyblade gained so much spin in a single instant that Dizzi stopped being able to count it. Then, with a loud cracking noise, the metal from the beystadium disappeared, being replaced entirely by sand.

"Looks like the prince brough his home country with him," Brad Best said.

"And now he's forcing the Russian duo to kneel."

"That was incredible!" Kenny said, done with his data processing. "His beyblade spinned so fast that it teared the metal apart. That sand right there is the remains of the beystadium."

"He could do that?" Hilary shouted in wonder.

"What a piece of work," Lafiria said.

While Desert Rose glided freely across the sand, Karakurt and Bonecrusher were stuck and their moves became sluggish and predictable. However, that didn't seem to bother the duo at all, as the aura around their bit-beasts grew thicker, ready for the eagle's assault.

Rachid's green beyblade danced around the sand pit and it attacked the duo with speed, precision and power, but his assault didn't seem to do what he wanted or expected, and worse, they managed to hit him back, and when Karakurt's electrified webbings found their mark he felt another small piece of his skin being cut open.

Suddenly, with a loud roar, Desert Rose collided with the brunt of its strenght against Bonecrusher and Karakurt, kicking up a cloud of sand that blocked vision of the stadium. However, two beyblades were catapulted from the stadium, one of them to the ground and another to the raised hand of its owner. Slowly, Bonecrusher revealed itself as the last one standing, as the three bit-beasts vanished and victory was handed to Russia by the referee.

"A king also needs to know when to retreat, so he can spare as much of his people as possible."

Then, in a single motion he turned around and left for their bench, being quickly surrounded by his escort.

"Your Highness, are you unharmed?"

"I'm alright. Mohamed, Mustapha."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"My father must have ordered you not to lose, but I want you to ignore whatever he said and listen to me. These people are not normal, and they're not here simply to win this championship. You are free to stay on the ring for as long as you feel necessary, but don't take any chances. Protect your bit-beasts and don't be afraid of retreating. It'll be our victory if we don't give them what they want."

Both of his teammates traded glances with each other before turning back to their prince.

"Thank you for your kind words, Your Highness."

"But we'll give you the third combat, Your Highness. Not because it was the Sultan's orders, but because that's what we wish to do."

He stared at his teammates in wonder for a second before recomposing in a smile.

"I'm not going to stop you. If you wish to give it your all, show them what the Arabian Elite Force can do."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Feeling more prepared than ever, the duo walked towards the edge of the disk while Rachid looked at them and the enemy team, with the worrying and the pondering back in full force, directed at Ellivah, who was standing up and walking towards the disk with Mikhail.

"She's playing after all…" Layla thought aloud.

"Hmm. Are you alright?"

"Other than a bit upset that you didn't let me help you."

"I couldn't, they were attacking us somehow. And no one else seemed to notice."

"We could've won together with the Fury of the Sands."

He pulled up his sleeve to show her how his arm was full of bruises and cuts that still spilled blood, and Layla's mouth gaped in astonishment.

"That was a chance I wasn't going to take," Rachid said, pulling his sleeve back down and walking towards the bench. While she sat next to him, he locked his hands in each other to support his chin and eyed the bag of liquid peeking through Ellivah's uniform, back to the cientific team next to the Russian bench, resting his eyes on a strange man with little to no spark of life, but the same ice blue eyes as Ellivah, and frowning at him.

"What's wrong, Rachid? Do you know that man?" Layla asked.

"No, but I might soon."

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

The four beyblades landed and danced around in the disk, and Boris's team was easily pushing back the Saudi Arabians. However, Rachid only focused on Ellivah's sweating and the man with her eyes.

Soon, his cellphone rang and he reached for it with the speed of his Desert Rose.

"Yes…? Is this a secure channel? …Alright, tell me everything."

For a long time, while all four bit-beasts were summoned and Russia continued with its dominating performance, Rachid kept solemnly nodding at everything his receiver said, absent from the combat, while Layla looked with concern at both him and their players. One of the Russian players had been called back from the match and Ellivah was left alone against their two teammates, but her horrified expression as she turned around to face Boris, after he had issued some order in Russian, told Layla something was very, very wrong. Suddenly, Dusk vanished in dark aura and took the shape of an arrow, piercing Mustapha's silver lion and destroying his beyblade. However, the prince's only reaction was a drop of sweat caressing his cheek as he kept nodding at the information being given to him. Mohamed was doing his utmost, but the hound reappeared and snarled, not to him or his scorpion Silent Shadow, but seemingly at everything at the same time.

At the exact same moment, Rachid jumped from his seat in horror, staring at the man with blue eyes and little reactions.

"What did you say?"

And chaos suddenly erupted in the stadium.

Chapter 18 – _"Bound"_

It had all happened to fast.

On a frame, Zeo was watching the second game between Russia and Saudi Arabia with his friends. On the next, with a chilling snarl, Ellivah's bit-beast severed any control they had over it and turned to attack the stands, while the girl fell to her knees, holding onto her head and screamed as if it was being drilled open.

Chaos took over and the spectators fled for the exits. However, unable to ignore the ones below Dusk's paws, and without thinking too much about it, Zeo jumped from the stands to the beystadium and manouvered around the hound's feet, sliding the last stretch towards Ellivah.

"Are you ok? What's going on?" he shouted to be heard above the screams from the crowd, grabbing the shoulders of the shaking girl. Slowly, she looked up at him and then turned for the spinning top, alone in the middle of the disk.

"Stop it…"

Nodding to her, Zeo jumped back up and slid down the great beystadium towards the bey. Dark winds sprouting from it repelled him but, keeping his arms in front of his face, he marched on until he managed to grab the beyblade whole with both his hands. It hurt, but it stopped, and Dusk instantly vanished while, at the same time, Ellivah's body fell to the side, passed out.

He glanced to the other side to check on the player who faced her, but Kai was there already. Saving whatever questions he might have for later, Zeo turned back and climbed up the disk to check on Ells first. Just as he kneeled next to her to try and wake her up, people surrounded both of them from all sides and, even if she couldn't fight back he did, in a futile attempt to escape their strong grip.

Then, as they dragged him towards the exit of the stadium, a nearby magnet field made his head spin for a moment, before he could still himself and look for its source. Instead of a machine, he saw a tall man dressed in a neon white coat like others from Boris's scientific team, with eyes as pale as Ells's, but unfocused and without a single reaction.

How could he be so calm when even the people dragging him were still visibly upset about the rabid bit-beast attack?

Keeping a tight formation, the group of men hauled them both to the Russian area, where Zeo was separated from Ells, and locked him inside a bare room with but a chair and table. He banged on the door for several minutes, threatning whomever could hear with the name Zagart, but since no one bothered to take him seriously he decided to investigate the place further, taking full advantage of his self as an android.

Sitting on the chair, he pulled a pointed thimble from his trousers' pocket and slipped it into his index finger, making a clicking sound. He usually didn't need to connect anywhere but, accepting what he was, Zeo and his father started to think of other ways he could be useful, and Zagart had made that device for him to be able to connect to local networks and the internet at will.

It was difficult, but Zeo managed to work his way around the various security checks on the network and gain access to the entire camara infrastructure, using it to look for Ells on the numerous rooms of the building. He came across a room with working scientists, Nikolai's room where he was lifting a small weight with one arm, guards looking about on a corridor, and a red-haired boy approaching the bed where Ells had been strapped on.

Zeo rapidly rewinded the video and let it loop for several seconds where Ells was sleeping alone, before looking back at the original camera footage, seeing three others were there with the red-haired. He knew them all from two years before.

"Wake up," Ozuma demanded, shaking Ellivah. Her eyes clenched and then slowly opened, letting out a surprised gaze before returning to its composed state, knowing what they wanted.

"We're taking Dusk. Where is she?"

"On my left shoulder," she answered.

"Bring her out, then," Dunga said.

"I can't control her. That serum over there is stopping me, and I don't know how long its effects last," she said, pointing with her head to a bag with a turbid, greyish substance. Joseph clicked his tongue, but Ozuma reached for the catheter.

"I'll take my chances."

"Dragoon and Strata Dragoon," she said, stopping him from touching her arm. "You can save them, and the other bit-beasts they've stolen. They're in the floor above us, two rooms east, in a vault. The code is 80151."

"Wait, why are you telling us this? I thought you were on their side," Joseph said.

"I don't know how the guards didn't spot you yet with the cameras. Don't push your luck. Go," she said with an urgent stare.

"We can get you out of here," Ozuma said, but she shook her head vigorously, urging them to leave. Only Mariam stayed in the same position, contemplating her as if trying to find her secret just from her face of silent refusal.

"Mariam, we're leaving," Ozuma said while Dunga jumped up to the conduct where they had come from.

"Right."

Trading one final stare with Ellivah, she turned around and joined her team. Even though Zeo hadn't been able to hear anything that they had said, after he returned the camera feed to normal he kept a close eye on the other rooms, looking for anything that might indicate if the Shields were resurfacing somewhere else in the building or just leaving Ellivah behind.

Suddenly, crawling on the air ducts just behind her brother, Mariam chuckled.

"I think she likes Kai," she said in a low voice.

"And what's so funny about that?" her brother asked, turning around to face her. "If Hilary likes someone too, then they're in trouble."

"You're such a killjoy, Joseph. As if we're letting that happen."

"How? We can't watch all three of them and we don't even know who Hilary likes."

"Tyson, duh?"

"Quiet, you two. We're here," Dunga said, cutting any sort of answer from both of them. He lifted the grating and jumped below into an empty room with computers, other incomprehensible machines, and a vault on the wall that required a code to be opened. Using the one Ellivah had told them, it opened with a heavy clicking sound, and Ozuma pulled several bits from inside of it.

"That's all of them," he said, quickly inspecting each of them before putting them into a back pocket.

"I'll agree on one thing," Joseph suddenly said, as if he had been thinking about all along. "We're missing something here."

"Let's go back to the Mozambique area and then we'll decide what to do about this," Ozuma said, and with a nod everyone turned and vanished into the ceiling.

Just as they did so, footsteps echoed on the other side of the door to Zeo's room. Hurridly he disconnected from the network and hid his thimble while the door was opened, revealing a tall, red-haired man with a massive beard.

"Dad!"

"Come, let's go back to the hotel," Zagart said, stepping back while Zeo jumped from the chair and joined him. "I've cleared this misunderstanding with Mr. Barkov, and he assured me it won't be repeated."

"You know him, dad?" Zeo asked while they walked, escorted by a couple of guards, back to the exit.

"I knew of him. I imagined him to be ruthless, but not to the extent of what happened today on the stadium. The games have been postponed to tomorrow while they conduct repairs," he said, shaking his head. "Did you know that girl?"

"Yeah, she's the one I told you about yesterday, with the other dog bit-beast, that I played against."

"But I thought she was on the Japanese team with Tyson and the rest," Zagart answered.

"Something's wrong. I can't say exactly what, but I think they're forcing her to play for them somehow," Zeo said, rummaging his head for an answer, and courage to ask permission. "I want to help Tyson and the others find out what's going on, I think they might need my help."

Zagart didn't say another word while they crossed the snowy road between the Russian compound and the main connecting street, making Zeo feel uneasy about what he'd let him do. As the gate was closed behind them, a sound made him look to their left, seeing all four of the Saint Shields leaving from a gap between the Russian area and the wall of the airport, as if they had gotten lost during a stroll and were just returning through the same way.

"Dad, I know them over there, I've just helped them get back the bit-beasts that the Russians stole," he said quickly and with a low voice, pointing at them. "Can I go with them?"

"Go, but let me know how your investigation is going. Use your network to send me messages," Zagart answered.

"I will. Thank you."

In hurried steps but without running to avoid drawing attention towards him, he managed to position himself just behind Dunga and Mariam.

"You're that android guy, aren'tcha?" Joseph asked, making it clear all of them knew he was right next to him.

"Why did you leave Ells behind?" he asked.

"How do you know about that?" Mariam asked.

"I was controlling the cameras. You should thank me for not getting caught."

"She didn't want us to take her," Ozuma answered.

"Why?"

"We don't know."

"What are you going to do with the bit-beasts? Are you going to seal Dragoon and Strata Dragoon? Tyson and Daichi will need them to fight Boris and his team."

"What do you know?" Ozuma asked.

"Probably not much more than you guys, but I know there's something I'm not seeing."

Suddenly Ozuma stopped and glanced back at everyone.

"Change of plans. We're going to the Japanese area. And you, Zeo, wasn't it? Tell us what you know on the way there."

All of the teams had been forced back to their respective areas and the spectators confined to their hotel rooms. Max and Ray had managed to sneak to the Japanese area and discuss with the rest of them how they would rescue Zeo from the Russian area, or even if Zagart already knew about it or not, when footsteps drew their attention to the staircase that led down to the room.

Zeo himself was climbing down together with the Saint Shields.

"What are you people doing here?" Tyson asked, pointing at them in surprise.

"What does it look like? We came to watch the championship," Mariam answered.

"Some people were getting way too frisky with watching us, though, so we lost them and we've decided to take a better look around, see what was going on here," Dunga said.

"Then you probably know how spectacurarly we failed," Tyson said with a sigh, letting his body fall back into one of the couches. "Daichi and I-"

"You lost your bit-beasts. Yeah, we saw all that," Ozuma said with too much of a calm voice to be talking seriously, pulling something from his back pocket that he tossed over to Tyson and Daichi. With a simple glance at the items, their jaws were glued to the floor.

"Impossible!"

"Strata Dragoon!"

"How did you get them back?" Ray asked.

"Ellivah told us where to find them," Joseph said. "We went there to try and get Dusk, but we got everyone else instead."

"Ellivah? But wasn't she on their side?" Daichi asked.

"Obviously not, you idiot," Hilary said sharply.

"It's not that simple," Ozuma said. "Zeo might have a pretty good clue about what's going on, though."

"Dizzi, can you connect to the internet?" he asked, looking over Kenny's shoulder.

"Of course. There's been a pesky magnetic field that's been trying to stop us, but it's really no match for me," she confidently said.

"I thought so. A lot of people on our hotel have been complaining about it."

"But what does that have to do with anything?" Daichi asked.

"They're trying to hide everything that's going on here," Max said. "Probably the only games that will be shown to the public are those that they allow out."

"You were recording the game between Arabia and Russia, weren't you?" Zeo asked the bit-beast.

"One video, coming right up."

Together with Kenny and Zeo's instructions the laptop put up the video to the point where Ells was playing alone against the prince's bodyguards, and focused on the multiple men on the bench that had nothing to do with the four Russian players and their designated tech, looking intently at the image for someone while Kenny played the video again, just before Dusk went on her rampage.

"I'm still not sure whom you're looking for, but…" Dizzi suddenly went very quiet and the video froze, locked on several people. "Oh, so that's it!"

Her shout made almost everyone jump where they stood.

"What's the matter, Dizzi?" Kenny asked a little frightened with her reaction.

"Look at this, everyone," she said, closing in on the man that Zeo had seen, with cold light blue-eyes and nerves of steel, unmoving while everyone else went on a panic as Dusk rammed against the walls of the stage, trying to reach the stands, and screams filled the background.

"What the hell? It's like he can't even see what's going on," Daichi said.

"This looks exactly like this man, doesn't he?" she said, pulling up a picture from the internet of the exact same man, but with a friendly smile at the camera, from an old scientific paper.

"Zenkichi Kurotenshi?" Max read aloud, unfamiliar with the name.

"Wait, that's Ells's last name," Hilary said. "Is that her dad, Dizzi?"

"I tried to contact him after I helped her escape from Boris the first time, but I found this," she showed another article, that time from a newspaper from three yeards before, claiming he had lost his life amongst other people on a chain car accident.

"Wait, he's dead?" Tyson asked in a bit of a shock. "Then who's the man on the video?"

"Can you use a thermal scan on the video? Compare him to me and the rest of the people," Zeo asked.

"You got it," both she and Kenny replied.

Fastfowarding to the point where he crouched next to Ells, they zoomed out so that they could see everyone around the stadium and applied a mix of grey, blues and yellows and reds. Most people appeared as red in the centre and orange and yellow around, while Zeo was slightly lighter and the unwavering man was far more red than yellow.

"I don't get it, he's different than everyone else," Daichi said.

"That's because he's a robot," Zeo said. "But not like me. His cooling system is defective."

"It doesn't need to be as good as you if its job is just standing there and pretending to be a person," Joseph said shrugging.

"Boris, you bastard," Hilary said, slamming a fist on the palm of her hand, feeling an anger that she had never remembered experiencing. "Toying with Ells like that..."

"They must be using this robot to make her believe they have her father and to force her to do what they want," Kenny said.

"Then all we have to do is tell her she's being tricked," Tyson said, clicking his fingers, and then turning to Max, Ray and the Saint Shields. "You're helping us rescue her, right? Just like before."

"Of course," Max said giving him a thumbs up while Ray nodded.

"Let's do it," Ozuma said with a nod.

"We're gonna have to plan this very carefully," Kenny said, already working on a way to find schematics for the entire venue.

"Let me help," Zeo said, sitting down on the arm chair of the sofa and reaching for his thimble. "I've already hacked into their network, I know my way around it."

"Sure thing."

"Let's get to it," Dizzi said enthusiastically, ready to tackle another dangerous system to save her friend.

A dash of red over white. A crystal. A man crying over an abandoned grave. Women defending him from a horde of enemies. And two simple word resonating in his chest with a feeling that he couldn't quite understand.

_I'm sorry._

Both asleep and awake those images haunted him to the point he thought he was going insane. They had been nothing but peaceful dreams before, but they gained a strange tone after Ellivah turned against them.

They were stronger than ever.

Keeping himself to the corner of the room, Kai looked over the rest of the group with the corner of his eye, as they debated about what to do while Dizzi and Zeo worked around the intricate security system Boris and his men had setup around their network. He had been angry, and without knowing why Ellivah had turned on them, understandably so, but now that he knew she had been coerced into doing it he continued angry and without knowing why. Perhaps it wasn't truly him who was mad, but someone else. The original owner of those distant memories that couldn't belong to him.

Or maybe he really was going insane.

While Kai silently worried about his hallucinations, Tyson was anything but silent about their next plan of action. Rescuing Ellivah aside, they knew she wouldn't be completely safe with them on that small land mass. They needed to find a way to hide her and, worst case scenario, protect her from Boris's thugs. However, the Shields claimed that, while investigating, they had discovered that the wealthy person behind the tournament was a close associate to Boris, so the entire island was his to use as he saw fit. They had managed to hide by moving from area to area, but there was no guarantee Ellivah would be capable of keeping up with them, and even they were at constant risk of getting found and kicked off the island.

As ideas began to run out, the conversation slowly shifted away to what each of them would do when she was with them. While Ray and Max didn't know her well and wouldn't do much, Dizzi said she'd scold her big time and the Shields agreed, although with very different objectives, while Daichi claimed he'd punch her on the head for not trusting them to help her after everything they had been through.

Without saying much about it, Tyson only watched as Hilary defended Ells, saying she'd welcome her back with a big hug, and then pondered with a raised eyebrow, thinking about how to keep her safe afterwards. It was almost her trademark expression, at least when she was looking at him, which was a shame because when she smiled the world stopped for a moment…

Wait, what the hell was he thinking?

"Tyson, do you think we should take Ells off the island?" Hilary asked, turning to him in the blink of an eye.

"Huh, I dunno," he struggled to say, caught completely off guard. Fortunately she didn't seem to notice he was distracted, and Ray answered for him.

"We don't know if Boris is working with someone else other than the funder, he might have people waiting on the shore in case something happens."

"Right," Tyson added unnecessarily. He looked about to find something else to distract him from Hilary, and saw Mariam dangerously approaching Kai, while most of them looked over Kenny's shoulder to see him and Dizzi in action.

"It's very strange that Ellivah took Tyson's Dragoon," she said to him. "You were more worn out because of the first game, and she had already taken Strata Dragoon, so taking Dranzer would be much easier. And yet she risked going for him instead."

Even though Kai was looking at her in the eye, he didn't say a word, waiting for her to get to the point. It sounded like she was trying to imply something, but her tone was way too serious to be mocking him about the whole couples things.

"Why do you think she chose to spare you and Dranzer?"

Watching Kai look back down to his feet with a very thoughtful face convinced Tyson to join in their conversation.

"It's pretty obvious, Mariam. As his bride, she wanted to protect her future husband."

"Husband?" she asked, turning to him with a confused expression.

"Oh, yeah, you weren't there. Kai and Ells were engaged by the word of prince Rachid, wasn't it?" he asked, finally turning to him. Tyson lost his voice completely when he found his glare to be cold and obscure.

"It's the second time that happens…" he muttered to himself, scratching his head when Kai unglued himself from the wall and walked away from them.

Somehow unfettered by it, Mariam tried to follow him but Ozuma grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Don't. You'll make things worse," he whispered to her.

"But-"

"We'll be watching."

She glanced back at Kai, but ended up sighing and nodding to Ozuma, who let go of her arm and joined the rest of the group with her.

"Well, I need to go to the loo," Joseph said, standing straight from watching Dizzi's monitor.

"Ah, wait, don't close that door," Hilary said as he was grabbing the handle to shut it behind him. He stopped and turned to her to hear more. "It's broken, we can't open it from the inside."

"Alright," he said, and then vanished from their sight.

"We got it!" Zeo, Dizzi and Kenny said all at the same time shortly after.

"You have no idea how hard this was, for me, a genius hacker!" Dizzi said while everyone gathered around them.

"They had several schematics, so we needed to find the real one," Kenny said.

"This one had so many protections you'd think they were trying to hide the Queen of England, so we think it's the right one."

"Print it," Kai said just by the rest of the group, making Tyson jump from the prevous scare.

"Right away."

"As soon as we have these maps we'll need to work on a plan, fast," Kenny said while the printer, connected to Dizzi, worked.

"Yeah. Tomorrow morning there'll be too much movement from the guards, not to mention the light, and after the matches Boris will know you have your bit-beasts back," Max said.

"Even this plant we got might not actually the true thing, but we have to try it," Zeo said.

"So we have no time for distractions, you hear that, Tyson?" Hilary said crossing her arms and raising her eyebrow at him, who was busy looking at his beyblade with Dragoon back on top if it.

"Yes, princess," he answered without looking at her, making her charge with a fist ready to get buried on his head.

A noise of papers out of tone with the rest of the printer made them all look back at the machine. Kai had gathered all the maps as soon as its task was complete. Then, without giving them time to say or do anything else, he dashed up the stairs and closed the door behind him, locking every single one of them inside that room.

Chapter 19 – _"Never Ending Cycle"_

"Joseph!"

"Hurry up, Joseph!"

"Man, you're noisy! Shut up!" he shouted back, exiting the bathroom.

"Kai's gone, Joseph! On his own with the maps to her!" Mariam's voice echoed from the other side of the door to the training room.

"Open this door, now!" Ozuma ordered.

In a flash he was unlocking his team from the room and the four of them bolted out of the area.

"Hey, wait!"

Tyson and Daichi tried to follow them, but they vanished at the entrance to their building.

"The hell's wrong with them?" Daichi asked, scratching his head.

"We don't have time to think about that," Tyson answered while Hilary, Kenny, Max, Ray and Zeo joined them. "Hilary, you and Kenny stay here. Guys, let's go and look for Kai. He's gunning for the Russian area for sure."

"Right."

"Hey, why do I have to stay here?" Hilary asked.

"What if they come back?" Tyson said. "We need someone here to let us know about it."

Even though she didn't really like to stay behind, she could tell that, other than that reason, it would be dangerous to go into enemy territory, and ended up nodding.

"Fine, but you'de better come back in one piece!"

With one final glance, Tyson turned back around, urged the rest of them to join him with a "Come on!", and the five of them ran out towards the main street.

_With an unreadable gaze, she wore strange clothes from a different time. He was shocked, and enraged beyond words._

Shaking his head, Kai cleared that image from his head and kept running. His only hope by then was that when he saw the real Ellivah all those images and feelings would finally vanish, or that he could at least understand why they were crossing his mind.

He entered the underground passage that crossed the island north to south, thinking he should use the brush on the other areas to return if he had the chance.

_Horns sounded, raising everybody from their light sleep. At least his had been light. He had been thinking, worrying, about the girl from the lake, absent the previous night._

_But the lord army attacked and they had to fight back._

_Soon he joined Hina, Tai, and the rest of their companions while the army rallied and defences were prepared. However, she was strangely sullen, as if something else disturbed her more than the battle._

"_Let's finish this today," Tai said determinantly._

"_Yes," everyone said, and Hina looked up to them._

"_We'll go with the plan we've discussed yesterday. Tai, Ryoga, Daichi, you're leading the front. Please, don't be reckless. Makoto, you're with me on the backlines. We can't let the Priestess's spirit get to us or the wounded. Kaito, you're leading the strike unit. If you can get to the back row and threaten the lords themselves we might just win this. Everyone, move out!"_

_Calling out to the soldiers they all charged forward, with men on foot and riders mounting their steets close behind. Meanwhile, he gathered his strength on the image in front of his shoulder, summoning Dranzer in red light. It flew low and let him jump to his back before taking to the sky with a handful of other spirits close behind in formation, ready to cut aside anyone who stood in their way._

His conscience returned to him and Kai found himself on the floor in the bottom of a staircase, with an aching knee and forehead, but he was quickly standing up and running onward. It wasn't hard finding out which one was the Russian area, as it was the only one covered in snow, just like he remembered it when he was a kid living in that cold country. Like all the other areas, it was covered around and above with thick glass except for a three metre high wall, but the snow showed on the beams in the glass panels and the white tree tops.

After hiding from sight he glanced at the schematics and saw an opening for ventilation he could use to go inside. He didn't know if they had traps or fans, but he didn't really care. Such an opening was too high on the glass to be accessed from the ground, but there were trees nearby he could use to jump there.

While he took aim, atop a palm tree, to leap towards a clear duct opening in front of him, he didn't notice the entities observing him, just above, invisible on the glass.

"Guess that's him," one of them said, with the voice of a teenage girl.

"About time," said the other one, with the voice of an older boy.

With a movement as simple and fast as a snap of the fingers, the three guards observing camera footage from all around the Russian compound were knocked out, falling over the desk and sleeping like babies. Then a dirty blond young man materialized from thin air into the room, as if he had always been there, invisible to everyone. Shortly after the door opened and a red-haired young woman entered the room, closing the door behind her, and took a quick glance at the boy as he skimmed the monitors, and to the fainted guards.

"We're just going to leave them here, right?" she asked.

"I mean, yeah," he answered, shrugging. "Where else do you want me to put them?"

Without bothering to give him an answer, she also turned to the monitors and saw Kai zigzaging through the pine trees, letting the snow hush his steps and hide him from the guards on the field.

Soon the door knocked and she opened it, letting a white snake creature with two long red stripes running through her body rapidly slip inside the room.

"What do we do now? We have to wait, right?" she asked, perking its horse-like ears.

"Pretty much. It's not on our hands anymore," the boy answered, still observing the monitors.

"No, we have to wait. You still have work to do," the girl said.

"Oh, yeah," the serpent said after pondering for a moment. "I'll be right back."

As fast as it entered the room it was gone, leaving the two teens to trade glances at each other and start chuckling while the girl closed the door.

Flying invisible towards the outside of the building, the snake found Kai approaching it, just before he suddenly crouched and shut his eyes.

_They were rapidly approaching the Priestess of Dark. It was strange that none of her guards were moving to stop them, as if they weren't aware of the phoenix descending over her, but he wasn't one to complain. Like Hina had said, it was the best and fastest way to end that war._

_Thanks to a stray attack that hit the spirit holding it, her transporter was on the floor and she was kneeled undisturbidly, as if unware of the bloodshed around her. While he unsheeted his sword and advanced, she stood up and faced him. A golden stroke flickered on her sleeve, but he didn't care about any ornament she might have. He was tired of the war, and he still worried about the girl from the lake, thinking something had happened to her, and he needed to kill that wretched sorceress to be free to look for her._

_But then she spoke._

"_The moon has finally died on the first month of ice. The time is right."_

_He froze where he stood, taken aback by the familiarity of both her voice and her words. A breeze pulled back the veils over the Priestess and imploded all doubts and suspicions he had forced into the back of his mind._

_The girl from the lake. Ells. Looking directly into his eyes._

Aware again, Kai shook his head and stood back up. He had almost lost himself and became fully immersed in the mind of that other man, Kaito, from his imagination, and even if his thoughts were finally his again, his feelings were devoured by anger, making concentration challenging.

Fortunately he was capable of reading the map and knew where he should go. He approached an air duct connected to the room where Ells should be encarcerated and climbed on. Soon he was looking directly into the vertical duct that would take him to the second floor, and the pending rage inside of him helped him climb it up in an almost twisted way. He hoisted himself up to the ledge of the horizontal conduct, and lost his mind again.

"_You! You tricked me this whole time!"_

_Without a word, she only eyed him. But it was all a lie. All those feelings he had nutured for her were nothing more than a malicious spell. Yes, something that would make him incapable of killing her. He knew it was impossible for him to feel as he did unless if under a spell._

_But it would not work on him._

_In the blink of an eye, the edge of his sword crossed her chest, directly into her heart. She twitched from the shock between metal and flesh, but remained passive, like only a witch could do. It was like stabbing a dummy instead of a human. He pulled the sword from her just as fast, fearing some sort of curse, and she fell over him, putting her hands over his shoulders, while the swirl of conflicting, corrosive thoughts intensified._

He was close to her. If he did the same thing would all of that finally stop?

With newfound energy, cold and assassin, he advanced on the duct.

THUD THUD

He turned around and covered his mouth to hide his breathing. It had come from behind him.

THUD THUD

It was right by his feet, but he remained as immobile as possible without being lifeless.

Then an even stronger sound came from the front of him and he turned forward in a flash. A hole had been opened on the duct as if a football had pierced it, and gentle light poured from it. Still Kai didn't move, trying his best to listen to anything that might indicate him of what was happening on the room below, but after some long, silent minutes, he slowly pulled his hand away from his mouth and advanced, as quietly as he could, and peered inside the hole, being momentarily blinded by the light.

_She didn't fall on top of him. She was leaning on him._

"_I'm sorry," she said weakly, her life fading away._

_Then she fell back, letting go of him, and was caught by the snow._

_Why was he feeling so much pain, watching her blood drain away?_

_He didn't know how long it took until he could hear Dranzer's voice again._

"Kaito, listen to me! We need to go, now!"

_When he looked about a white shield was being formed around him and a dozen women, who had been protecting him from the battalion trying to retaliate the death of the Priestess. While they were deft and swift on their defense, they all shed tears._

"_You must leave!" one of the women said. It was Mariam._

"_Edonisu wished for you to live so that you might have a chance to heal. Please, ride your spirit and go," said another one. It was Mariah._

_It was nothing like what he knew or was said about the Priestess, but Dranzer was already descending and he jumped on his back, riding him back to the safety of their back lines._

_He was entering a dark tent, with a small, eldery woman sitting in front of a short table with a ball of transparent crystal on top of it._

"_I don't usually have visitors like you," the woman said while he kneeled in front of her, on the other side of the table. "What is it that you seek to know?"_

"_Are you the woman with the red crystal?" he asked._

"_Who told you about me?" she asked with a soft smile. "The Priestess of Light? The Priestess of Dark? Or both?"_

"_How did you know…?"_

"_I'm sure they told you I'm a wise woman," she replied. "I can guess why you're here. You want to know what afflicts them."_

"_Can she be cured? Hi- The Priestess of Light?"_

"_I'll let you see for yourself."_

_While she spoke, she produced a red rhombus crystal from her black robes and handed it over to him, pushing it across the table._

"_Take it into your hands and look at it. I'll be your guide," she said while he grabbed it and gazed upon its shinning surface. Then, an image crossed his mind, reflected from the crystal's core and the old woman's soft, rugged voice._

"_Look at this woman. She is beautiful and has a man who loves her. But, she stole that man from someone who should not have been antagonized. Look, as that witch casts a curse on them both. Look, as she gives birth to a child, and gives her to another family, fearing she would bring ruin upon her. Look, as her beloved husband is lost on the woods and she weds another man. Look, as she gives birth to another child and raises her with care. Look, as this girl falls in love with a friend from her village. Look, as she discovers her spirit and embarks on a journey of justice. And now look at the other girl, who grew up with a loving adopted parent, trying to defend a boy from being enslaved. Look as her spirit awakens and the man she loves as a father is imprisoned. Look as she is chained, and embarks on a journey of regret. Look, as she finds a kindred soul by a lake and falls in love with him. Look, as both sisters are forced to fight one another, bound by both blood from their parents and soul from their feelings, tying them both to the curse that flows through all of them. And now look, as by your hand you've slain one of them and the other will wither away as by the contract between the witch and the demons she called upon to create and fulfil it."_

_The crystal fell from his hands and he clutched his head, panting. He had known it all along, but had refused to believe it to protect himself. But the crystal had given him a glimpse of her mind and her pure feelings towards him, as well as the sadness of knowing her fate._

_Edonisu had truly loved him. He had truly loved her back._

_And then he killed her._

"_I'm sorry, child," the woman's voice said. "You were an instrument to this curse. If not by your hand, it's likely she would have perished by someone else's. You now share my pain, but I hope you can be freed of it someday. It was her wish."_

_He was filling up a grave. He hadn't seen it, but he knew it was hers. An old man remained silently beside him until he completed the task, and returned the shovel to him._

"_Thank you," he said, taking it and looking back to the grave. "No one else cared for her. She was a good girl, she was. She tried to protect a little boy in our village from the lord, when his spirit appeared. And then that great hound appeared at her side. The soldiers seized me. They put their blades around my neck," he said, stretching it so the dark red scars were clearly visible. "She begged them to stop, and allowed them to do whatever they wanted from her," he shook his head while tears began to form in the corner of his eyes. "My little Edo… What a fool… She did it all for me, who's not even her real father… Oh, Edo…"_

_The man dropped to his knees and howled in grief, but he couldn't respond in the same way._

_He didn't feel anything anymore._

When he opened his eyes, he saw only tiled floor below him. However, Kai was finally free from the mental turmoil that had assaulted him, and there was no sign of anything nearby other than him, so he couldn't help but sigh in relief. Even though he still shared some feelings with Kaito, his madness, guilt, and deep pain were no longer among them.

He crawled over the hole and a couple more rooms until he reached the place Kenny and Dizzi had marked as being where Ells had been locked in. Peeking over the grating he saw her strapped by her wrists and ankles with thick leather buckles to a bed, while the greyish liquid Ozuma described still leaked onto her vein. Her eyes were closed but, if he had to, waking her up wouldn't be an issue.

As soon as he lifted the grating and jumped down, she opened her eyes and turned to him.

"You…?" escaped from her lips while her eyes widened slightly.

"I'm getting you out of here," Kai answered, standing up and approaching the bed. He stopped monentarily when she turned her head against him.

"There's nothing for you here. Leave me."

"There's even less for you," he reached the end of the bed and started unbuckling the restrains on her legs. "You think they have your dad. They don't. It's an android like Zeo. Your real father died three years ago in a car accident."

He almost jumped when the bed jerked violently.

"LIAR! You just want me to follow you! You have no idea what he means to me!"

With a grip on his chest that he found hard to explain, Kai stared at Ells's angered eyes, keeping their distance from him only thanks to the restrains on her arms. As she realized what he was trying to say with his silence, the energy on her face quickly waned into something that disturbed him even more. Nonetheless, he stilled his mind and released the buckles on her wrists.

"Please tell me it's a lie…" she asked in a weak, trembling voice.

"It's not a lie, Ells," he answered bluntly, stripping the serum system from her arm, the last thing that tied her to the room. "We need to hurry and get-"

Her light weight pressed almost entirely on his chest silenced him, and he felt something warm and humid seep into his shirt.

"No! You're a liar!" she insisted, pressing her head against him, with a sobbing, heart-broken voice. "He can't be dead, he can't be. I did all those things because of him, he's all I have left… I betrayed you because of him… Please… He can't be… Dad…"

Slowly her voice was entirely replaced by a sorrowful wail and her hands gripped his shoulders like he was the only pilar left on her world. Hesitantly, he put his arms around her back, usnsure of what else he could do. For a moment, he turned to the security camera on one of the corners of the room, but it looked back with the distance of a machine, as if there was no one on the other side watching them, so he focused on the crying girl on his arms again and spoke as gently as he could, thinking she could stay there for a little while longer.

"Sorry."

However, there was someone watching them, and one of them pushed himself from the wall he was leaning on just to take a better look at the screen and what was going on inside the cell.

"What the hell are they doing? They need to get out of there," the blond boy said.

"And how are we going to force them?" the red-haired girl asked sharply.

"It's fine as long as we control this room, right?" the snake asked. Her companions merely glanced at each other, unsure of the answer themselves.

A static voice emerged from one of the guards' belts.

"Control room, this is the security level 3 guard, do you copy, over."

Before the girl and the snake could identify where the voice had come from, the boy was reaching for the walkie-talkie on one of the fainted men's hips and, pressing the biggest button, he talked to it, making a very deep voice.

"Security level 3 guard, this is Control, is everything alright, over."

"What the hell's wrong with your voice, over."

Getting an angry glare from the girl, the boy took a deep breath and eased on the depth.

"Slight cold, nothing to worry about, is everything alright security, over."

After a couple of silent seconds the walkie-talkie spoke again.

"Warning to all channels, Control Room has been compromised, activate code blue, I repeat…"

"I tried," the boy answered after dropping the walkie-talkie and facing the girl with her arms crossed and tapping her foot, while an alarm buzzed off loudly above their heads.

Hearing it, Ellivah jumped from Kai's chest as they realized the trouble they were in. He instantly grabbed her hand and hauled for the door, which flung open before he could reach it.

"They're not alone, I repeat, they're not alone."

Keeping her behind him, Kai backed away from the door, the man talking in the radio and the footsteps behind the wall, his mind racing between the need to find an escape, old memories, and a friend's voice.

"_What's wrong? You know exactly what you have to do."_

Tapping into the essence of his dreams, he reached for his beyblade alone, remembering something he had asked before all of that had become a reality, and raised it in front of them.

"DRANZER!"

Red light shot from the beyblade and knocked the man entering the room aside, turning at the door and gaining wings. More surprised shouts followed suit and, mostly as a light but gaining size, the beast smashed its way through the wall in front of them and crossed the room to smash the wall behind them.

Still holding Ellivah's hand, Kai took her across the wall to meet the back of the fully sized red phoenix, stretching its warm wings with a loud shriek. Without needing to be told, Dranzer gathered a fire ball on its beak and shot it at the ceiling, creating an opening large enough for them to cross.

"Take us out of here!" Kai shouted, approaching it with Ellivah.

"_Then mount, quickly_," its voice echoed in him while it crouched to let them on its back. Without hesitating, Kai took Ells on his arms and sat her on top of the phoenix, then mounted behind her and grabbed its white mane. Dranzer kicked the ground beneath and beat its wings, rising into the air and through the hole it had opened.

Moments after they crossed it, sharp objects wheezed all around them and Kai and Ells crouched on Dranzer's back. With a pirouette it moved from their main line of fire, but Ells lost her grip and almost slipped from its back, if not for Kai holding on to her and pulling her back to a better position. Something tingled on his back but Dranzer shrieked loudly, as if it had been hit with something.

"What's wrong?" Kai asked, but the phoenix didn't reply, losing the little altitude it had gained. Suddenly he felt his energy vanishing at an alarming rate and, at a distance from the building and its guards, Dranzer vanished beneath them, returning to the bit of his beyblade.

Without understanding what was happening, Kai grabbed Ells by her waist with one hand and tried to hold on to a tree branch, and even though he caught one and it didn't slip from his hand, his sudden weakness made him unable to support their weight and he let go of it, almost passing out in the process. With a thump that almost cut their breathing, they both fell to the soft snow below.

Somehow still awake, Kai tried standing up, but the pressure he had felt on his back had become sharp pain without him even being aware of it.

"Don't move!"

The urgency on Ells's voice as she crouched next to him made Kai cease any attempts to force himself up or around to see what was lodged there.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You were hit by one of their daggers. If you're bleeding like this even with it working as a plug…"

Panicking wouldn't help, but Ells's voice being lost in horror wasn't good news.

"How bad is it?" he asked.

It took her a moment to answer him. "If we can't fix this you'll die."

In a breath, he took in the situation they were in and came up with a quick answer to their problem.

"Take the papers in my pocket and go. They'll show you the way out."

When she didn't move an inch, he bobbed his head her way and found her staring at him with an indecipherable expression.

"Didn't you hear me? Go! Get out of here!"

Although he had tried to shout, his voice had sounded more like a forced whisper. Even so, she didn't do as he thought or wanted to. Instead, she sat next to him and turned him around, putting the top of his back over her leg so the wound wouldn't touch the snow.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"My kisses have healing powers," she said as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"We're not doing that," he answered, shaking his head. She seemed to be physically struck from his words, but they didn't stop her.

"You might not want to do something like this with a traitor like me, but it's the only way you'll live."

"That's not... If you do that you'll…"

He fought for the words to come out, but his consciousness seemed to be slipping away like water between his fingers. He didn't really want to die, but it would be far worse to live because of her sacrifice. She broke from his eyes and looked down, but quickly turned back to him, no longer seemingly hurt, and one of her hands found its way over to the dagger dug onto his skin.

"No, wait…"

Ignoring him, she grabbed hold of his chin to stop him from moving his head and, in one swift motion, she pulled the dagger from his back, making him quiver in pain, gritting his teeth not to let out a scream. She tossed the dagger away and put her hand around his shoulders.

"Thank you," she said with a voice rarely filled with feeling. He tried to focus on her face, but all he could tell was that it showed a mixture of emotions and deep sadness.

"I'm sorry."

Their lips touched as everything from Kaito's most painful memory played back, and he tried to raise his hand to push her back while her breathing changed to bear the pain, but everything blacked out before he could do any worth.

And so did she, suddenly being drained from all of her energy, falling over his chest as she lost consciousness.

Behind her head was the tip of a staff, held by a robed, purple, very short goblin with long horizontal ears and an evil smirk.

"What a bunch of morons."

Next to it stood the red-haired girl who looked about the brush tapping one of her displeased feet.

"Why were they hit? Why did he fail?" she thought aloud, crossing her arms.

As if answering her question, the dirty blond boy flickered into existence right next to them, getting the attention of both the girl and the goblin.

"What happened?" they asked him at the same time. He put his hands up, defending himself.

"It's complicated, you know it's complicated," he added, turning at the goblin for support. She pondered for a moment, scratching her chin with the pointy tip of her staff and ended up shrugging.

"He's right, it's complicated."

"Did you heal them yet?" the girl asked.

"No," she answered, turning rapidly towards the fainted Kai and Ells and the red snow around them.

"Hurry up, then," the girl said while the goblin hovered her staff just above Ellivah's exposed wound. It partially closed, just enough for her to easily survive, but not too much for them to suspect the actions of a third party.

While she did the same thing to Kai, the boy turned his head towards the woods, listening to something no one but than him could've heard.

"What?" the girl asked.

"They're coming this way."

"So? Distract them. Get them out of here," she demanded as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Yes, ma'am."

Reajusting the blue and yellow scythe on his hand, the boy ran several feet away from them, keeping himself in sight. Still close to them, he turned to the side, stopping, and waved something they couldn't see.

"Yohoo, sexy boy!" he shouted in a mocking tone.

The girl's mouth opened on its own.

"What the fuck."

"Get down!" the goblin warned as the footsteps got noticibly closer and faster. Just as she thrust herself onto the snow two men dressed in black turned towards the boy, prompting him to run again.

"Stay where you are!" one of them yelled, producing another knife from his clothes. However, the boy vanished before their very eyes and, before they could even slow down to look for him, they both fell to the snow, passed out from a precise blow to the back of their heads.

Standing back up and cleaning the snow from her clothes, the girl shook her head.

"I swear I'm going to kill that jerk someday."

Tyson hid rapidly behind a palm tree, dragging a careless Daichi near him. Another armed group with guard uniforms passed by them, and they only allowed themselves to relax once they were gone in the darkness of night.

"Let's follow those guys," Daichi whispered.

Agreeing with him, Tyson and Daichi advanced behind them, as silently as possible. Just before the two of them with Max, Ray and Zeo had reached the Russian area, a loud siren sounded from it, and moments after that a huge cracking noise. When the dome with white treetops appeared behind the walls of the airport, they noticed a massive hole at its top. As they argued how it could be related to Kai or Ells, a battalion of footsteps echoed on the other side of the wall and they hid behind the scattered trees just in time to let a large group of guards, wielding very real machine guns, trot past them and split up in several teams to the various roads that irrigated the venue.

"I think they got away," Ray whispered.

"Hang on, let me check," Zeo checked, reaching for his thimble.

"Can you without Dizzi?" Max asked.

"Doesn't hurt to try," he answered, closing his eyes to focus on the network. Soon after he found a very disturbing problem and opened them again. "What the…?"

"What's wrong?"

"The entire secutiry network has been turned off. They're trying to reboot it."

"What? How?"

"I have no idea."

"But that's good for us," Daichi said hurridly. "That means they're running as blind as we are."

"Right. Let's split up and follow these groups, maybe they'll lead us somewhere," Tyson suggested.

Tyson, Daichi and Zeo followed one group while Ray and Max went after another. Following the guards' trail, the three of them let the sun set and most of the night go by without finding a trace of nothing but security guards. Not even the Saint Shields dared to come out from whatever hole they had crawled into, and soon after the sun set Zeo had to split up from them, saying his father was worried and wanted him back at the hotel.

Even then, just as Tyson and Daichi left the safety of their hideouts behind the palm trees, the group of guards quickly turned around, forcing them back into hiding until they took a corner and vanished, leaving only the sound of their heavy boots behind.

"We're not getting anywhere like this. How are we going to find them?" Daichi whispered frustrated.

"Keep looking, I'll check back in our area and see if they've already returned," Tyson said handing him a walkie-talkie he had brought along. "I'll let you know if I find anything."

After he nodded back, Tyson turned around and ran for the Japanese area as soon as the coast was clear, hoping they were actually there. Otherwise neither he nor anyone would be able to go to sleep, with a match the next day nonetheless. He only slowed down by the gate to their area and only stopped for a breath at the entrance to the building, pushing the door open after taking a deep breath.

Hilary was laying down on the hall like a forgotten ragdoll. With a sudden thought that the Russians had been there looking for Kai and Ells and hurt her, he rapidly crouched next to her.

"Hilary! Hilary, are you ok? Answer me!" he shouted, shaking her shoulders. In turn, she lazily opened her eyes and looked at him.

"Oh, it's just you, Tyson," she managed to say before yawning deeply.

It was a bit unsettling that all his worry had been spent when she had just fallen asleep on the floor, but it would be pointless to dump his lack of sleep on her, so he forced himself to calm down.

"Why are you sleeping here on the floor? You scared me," he said.

"I was waiting for Kai to come back with Ells, or that you guys came back with them," she said looking about. "But I guess they didn't come back yet. Max and Ray didn't find anything, either, so they went back to their areas to ask their teams for help."

"And where's Kenny? You're the only one here."

"He said the security network was down and they couldn't reboot it, so he and Dizzi couldn't do anything. I told him to go to sleep a couple of hours ago, I think. They weren't caught, were they, Tyson?" she asked, letting the worry show on her eyes. "We heard the alarm, so that means they escaped, right?"

"Yeah," he said, sitting next to her. "The guards are out there looking for them, but they hid too well. Not even Daichi and I can find them."

His answer only seemed to upset her more, and he honestly couldn't blame her. Other than the fact the weapons from those men were definitely not meant for playing paintball, the more he thought about it the more unsettling the whole reaction from the Saint Shields was, as if they knew something very bad was going to happen as soon as Kai left the room and locked them inside. However, he couldn't bring himself to say what he really thought about all that.

"But don't worry," he said, putting an arm around her shoulders. "They're both strong and smart. They're hiding, that's all. They'll come back, you'll see."

Naturally, she leaned on him and put her head over his shoulder.

"Liar," she said with a slight displeased frown, which was quickly unmade. "Thanks for worrying about it."

"That obvious?" he asked, feeling a little embarrassed about her reaction.

"No, but I know you well enough to tell. After all, you convinced me you were sick so you didn't have to clean the classroom and ran away when I went to get the teacher, remember?"

"Not really, but now that you mention it…" he muttered, looking back at a memory of something of the sort. "We didn't get along so well back then."

"Yeah. It was only when I saw you really play beyblade, when you saved me and Kenny. Even though you were focused on your game you still told us everything would be fine. Before that I thought you were only an irresponsible dumbass addicted to spinning tops, but then… Well, you're still an irresponsible dumbass most of the time but you're also…"

"Also what?" he asked when she didn't go on with her sentence. "Hilary?"

"Zzzz…"

Yeah, she was sound asleep again. With a sigh, he resigned himself to assuming she was actually going to compliment him, which meant that when she became lucid she'd refuse so say anything.

Taking care not to wake her up, Tyson carried her to her room and laid her on the bed. He gazed upon her peaceful sleeping face for while, that could've easily stretched on forever if there wasn't something bothering his mind. So, he ended up turning back to the entrance and set out to find Kai and Ellivah again.

Chapter 20 – _"The Promise"_

Cold was the first thing he felt as he regained his senses. And, as he wondered why it licked his skin, he remembered.

"Ells!"

He jumped to a sitting position, feeling a stinging jab on his back, but still looked about. He had been laid on a hole in the snow at the base of a tree, dug so that his back would be against the earth beneath. It wasn't the place where they had fallen. It was cold and night had settled in, but the snow seemed to be melting and there was a breeze rustling the pine trees.

Bringing a hand over to his back, he checked that the wound was still there, but partially closed, covered with something he couldn't see, and the bleeding had stopped. It meant that she was probably still alive.

There were dragging marks on the snow just in front on his feet, which could lead him to her. He struggled to his feet by sheer force of will and staggered along the path for some painful minutes until he spotted Ells, unconscious on the snow. His step hurried and he crouched next to her, fearing she was in worse condition than him but, just like with his, her wound had been covered with tissue from her garnment and wasn't bleeding.

With his most immediate concern settled, Kai took a deep breath and looked about more carefully. He soon spotted the gigantic hole on the glass dome above them, which explained the strange temperature and melting snow, but was left without an answer as to how it had appeared there.

A breaking twig made him turn back in a flash, but he saw nothing. Kai dragged Ells closer to a nearby tree to hide her better, and then ventured out towards the sound, getting used to the pain on his back to the point of being able to move in a slightly more coordinated way.

Another sound caught his attention and he looked up to a branch from a nearby pine tree. A tucan looked straight at him with its beady eyes, as if it was normal for such a creature to be there in the snow and strange for that human to be there on his own. It knocked on the tree twice with its long, orange beak, and flew off, gliding close to the ground instead of up into the opening through which Kai thought it had come from. Was there another way in?

Glancing back to make sure Ells was well hidden, he turned back and cautiously followed the bird as it hopped merrily from branch to branch. They passed through the place where he had woken up and then another similar stretch until he could see the grey wall that limited the area. Just as he had suspected, it was also holed, camouflaged by trees and branches from both sides of the wall, and just big enough for him to cross with Ells.

Using his fear of getting caught to fuel whatever strength he had left, Kai turned around and returned to the place where he had left her. After taking a moment to focus, he put his arms around her shoulders and under her knees and attempted to lift her up. The pain on his back returned tenfold and his legs almost gave in, but he managed put a leg to the front to stop himself from falling, grit his teeth and forced himself to stand up straight. She wasn't that heavy, dammit. And he had to get her out of that place.

Yawning, Dunga watched the back of another group of men as they marched at a distance. He had lost count of how many groups had passed through there. He was set to watch the Russian area in case something else happened or the guards found Kai or Ells and brought them back there, while Ozuma, Mariam and Joseph searched for them, like the seemingly majority of the island.

Other than the inexplicable hole on top of the glass dome, nothing else had changed. No one had gone in or out the main gate, and nothing was visible from his vantage point, atop a tall palm tree, except for snow and pines. There was even hardly any noise to be heard, except for the rustling leaves in the wind and the boots marching about in the distance.

But, just as the group he gazed at turned for the central area, the rustling increased just further back on the wall. When he turned his head towards the sound, Dunga saw someone in the shadows of a thick bush carrying another person, and squinted to be sure he wasn't imagining things.

"What the…"

In a swift motion he was talking to the radio his team still held.

"Guys, I found them. They were inside the Russian area this whole time," he said in a low voice, preparing to jump from the palm tree.

"I'm nearby. I'm on my way," Ozuma's voice answered.

After falling to the floor with a flump, he stood straight and dashed their way, glancing back to make sure there were no guards to see any of them.

"Kai!"

Hearing his name, he looked up and stopped. The voice was familiar, but his vision was getting cloudy and he couldn't recognize who it was until his steps sounded too close to him.

"Are you… You look terrible," Dunga said, stopping in front of him. "Here, let me hold her. We're safe here for now."

Relunctantly, Kai let him take Ells from his arms and, free of her weight, he leaned to the chilling concrete wall and allowed himself to breath and the wound to cool off. He was sure he was bleeding again, but he couldn't tell when it had started.

"What the hell happened?" Dunga asked, after making sure she was only asleep.

"I got hurt… dagger on my back…" he managed to say between breaths, his eyes half closed to try and focus on easing the pain. "She tried to heal me and I passed out."

"Did you make that up there?" Dunga asked, pointing with his head to the hole on the dome. Kai didn't need to follow him to know what he was talking about, and shook his head.

"We can't stay here," he said shortly after.

"But you can't go anywhere."

"I can. Lead the way, I'll follow you."

"You sure?"

With the assertivity of his nod, Dunga agreed and turned back to the path between the wall of Russia and the wall of the airport, swiftly hiding behind the trees to look about, keeping Ells well protected on his arms. Slowly, Kai followed, using a hand to lean on the wall for support. They waited for another regiment to pass by and dashed across the street towards one of the various pathways that branched towards the central area.

Hiding between a hotel and a restaurant, darkned by the night, a glint caught their eye and they looked up to the roof. Someone there was sending them light signals with a small metallic object.

"Ozuma," Dunga whispered. "Help's on the way."

Footsteps sounded and the silhouette jumped for the emergency staircase while three other people approached them quickly from a corner. It took a couple of seconds for Kai to recognize Daichi, Max and Rick.

"Are you ok?" Max asked, stopping in front of him. Before he could even nod, his last strength abandoned him and Kai collapsed on top of Max.

"Woah, what's wrong? Y-you're bleeding!" Max said, having put his arm around him to keep him standing up and feeling the moist wound.

"How's she?" Ozuma asked Dunga, landing next to them as he jumped from the stairs.

"Passed out, I think she's hurt too," he answered.

"But alive," he concluded with a sigh of relief.

"Let's get them back to our area," Rick said. "Our medical staff should know how to handle this."

With Rick leading the way, Ozuma and Max supported Kai on their shoulders and they all headed to the North American area.

Some time after he left their area, Tyson's walkie-talkie started calling for him.

"What is it, Daichi?" he asked.

"We've found them. They're hurt, so we're taking them to the American area."

"Ok, I'll meet you there."

Shoving the device into his pocket, he bolted for Max's area. Soon he was at their complex and was allowed inside, meeting Daichi, the entire North American and Chinese teams, and the four members of the Saint Shields in their main room.

"You? Why did you just disappear? I thought you said we were going to work together," Tyson said to the four of them.

"And we did. We just did things our way," Joseph said.

"It's complicated, Tyson. We'll explain once we get the chance, but we have bigger things to worry about now," Ozuma said.

"How are they?"

"They'll be alright," Max said. "They both had the exact same wound on their backs but, because Kai woke up and carried Ells, his got worse."

"She's not waking up for some reason," Emily said. "We gave her some light anesthesia and stitched her up, and we'll be keeping an eye on her until we can determine what's the substance they were giving her, see if we can come up with some sort of antidote if we need to."

"What about Kai?"

"He's lost a lot of blood. I'm actually surprised he managed to carry an unconscious girl for as long as he says he did," Ray said.

"Our guys gave him a transfusion and they should be about done with his wound too," Rick said.

"His resilience is remarkable. He tried to make them check up on your friend first, but Mrs. Tate refused as soon as she saw the cut on his back," Lee said.

"Oh man, Hilary's gonna snap when she hears about this," Tyson thought aloud, imagining her reaction. "She was worrying all night about them."

"Then why isn't she with you?" Max asked.

"She feel asleep, I left her back in our area. I tried to tell her they'd be fine, but she didn't buy it. She's gonna be so mad about this…"

"You're making it sound like we're actually dead."

Turning around Tyson saw Kai walking in the room from a hallway behind him. His clothes were dirty, his hair messy, and he was pale, scratched and worn out, but other than that he looked fine. At least there was a sort of glow in his usual grumpy face.

"Weren't you in surgery?" Tyson asked.

"They were stitching a cut, not opening me up," he said, walking to a nearby armchair and sitting on it. Other than a slight frown when he leaned back, he looked quite relaxed and oddly satisfied. It wasn't something that could be seen, but rather felt, which made Tyson wonder if it wasn't just a side effect from his own lack of sleep.

"So, what do we do now?" Daichi asked to the people on the room.

"We're going back to our area," Ray said. "It's pretty late, we're all tired."

"And even if we're not playing tomorrow, we still want to watch the games," Mariah added.

"You two should do the same," Max's mother said, coming from the same hallway as Kai had come from, looking over to Tyson and Daichi with her arms crossed. "Why aren't you keeping tabs on your teammates, Tyson?"

"It's not my fault, Judy!" he quickly said.

"I'm just pulling your strings," she answered with a sly smile. "Anyway, Kai and Ellivah will stay here tonight under observation in case there's any more trouble. We'll be a little bit tight on space, but we'll manage. You two, however, need to go back to your beds and get some sleep, especially because you'll be playing tomorrow."

"I'm all up for it," Daichi immediately said.

"What about you guys?" Ray asked Ozuma and his team.

"We'll be around," Joseph answered. "Maybe on that huge garden in the back of this area."

"Let's get going, then."

Just outside the gate everyone split up and left for their areas, dodging the guards still patrolling the walkways, and Tyson and Daichi found their way back to the area of Japan.

It didn't feel like he had fallen asleep that long ago but, before he knew, Hilary rushed inside his room and violently shook him awake.

"You're home? Where's Kai and Ells? Why aren't they on their rooms? You didn't come back without finding them, did you?"

Her questions sprouted faster than machine gun fire.

"Calm down, Hilary," he said between jerks, still on the edge between dreams and reality.

"Well?" she asked, stopping shaking him.

"They're with the Americans. Max's mom said they should be under observation in case there's trouble."

"Trouble? Under observation? Why?"

He didn't mean to say that and yet he did. And, to top it off, he was in no condition to come up with an excuse.

"Tyson!" she shouted impatiently.

"Well, they were… a little bit, huh… hurt?"

The killing silence only lasted for a moment.

"WHAT?!"

Inbetween a storm of bad mood Hilary forced everyone to get up and get dressed to go to the American area and check on both of them, and under half an hour all the wobbling boys and her were standing at their gate, waiting for clearance to enter. They were welcomed by an also zombiefied duo of Eddy and Emily, who barely had enough energy to wave them in. That didn't stop Hilary from asking, with the full strength of her voice, about the whereabouts of Kai and Ells, as well as their wellbeing.

Fortunately he was already up and her yelling ceased momentarily when she threw herself in his arms, making him frown with the sudden pressure on his back. As soon as she heard the details Hilary worried even more, moving around Kai as if he was going to drop dead at any moment. And Tyson didn't enjoy that scene, for some strange reason, but he quickly remembered that if there was someone he knew that definitely belonged to the ten percent non-dumbasses on the planet from Hilary's perspective, that someone was Kai. He couldn't possibly be her subject of interest, and that eased his mind.

But why?

Before he could give it much more thought, Hilary demanded to know about Ellivah, and Kai lead her and the rest of the team to the room the Americans had provided for her. They found her sound asleep, just like she had spent the entire night, and decided not to disturb her.

After thanking the Americans one final time, together with Kai they returned to the Japanese area, where they found Zeo at the entrance waiting for them. While they walked to the cafeteria, they told him what had happened the previous night after he had left and that Ellivah was still sleeping. It was almost noon and they had a match to prepare for at an unknown time, but, as it was reasonably early, the cafeteria was almost empty and they could fill their stomachs without anyone else engaging conversation with them.

Their match with the Egyptians would be the second of the afternoon, and the games would only start in four hours, so they had plenty of time for last minute adjustments to their strategies on the main practice area. Kai was far from peak condition, so Hilary had to join Tyson for the last match should there be one, and they both needed to get used to each other's playing style. However, their cooperation during practice was lacking at best, and it only got worse when Tyson arrogantly said Hilary just had to relax and let him deal with the match on his own.

Fifteen minutes before the match they wrapped things up and headed for their seats to watch the first game of the afternoon. The stadium filled rapidly, but that time none of the other teams were nearby, until the Saudi Arabians arrived. Apparently not even royalty was allowed to leave the island before the championship was over, as Rachid ordered his teammates to take their seats a coupls of rows ahead and stared at Kai quizzically, but he masterfully ignored the prince.

Sundenly, as if making a decision, he clicked his tongue.

"'Ant shujae. More than me."

That finally got his attention and everyone else's from the team.

"What does that mean?" Daichi asked.

"I don't think you'll be able to show us a top performance today, unfortunately. Not with that wound on your back."

"How do you-"

"There are a couple more things we need to find out, but I'd like to have a word with you later," he said, seemingly ignoring their troubled faces. "That is, if you can beat the Egyptians."

"That's it, you royal snob!" Tyson shouted, jumping from his seat. "You don't think we have what it takes? We're still on this championship and you're out, last time I've checked. No one here can beat us!"

"Oh, and here I was thinking you didn't stand a chance. Now that I have your word I'm far more relieved," he answered, turning around and leaving towards his team. "Do enjoy the show."

"You bet I will! They are way more interesting than you, royal pain in the butt."

"Tyson, stop that," Hilary said, pulling him down to his seat. "You're doing exactly what he wants you to do."

"So what? Let him be all high and mighty… Wait, what do you mean I'm doing what he wants?" He suddenly asked as the meaning of her words came across.

"He got your attention away. How did he find out about Kai's wound?"

"He could've seen us practicing this afternoon," Kenny said. "We were in the general training area, after all."

"But I don't think I've seen them there, Chief," Daichi said.

"Me neither, the Majestics and that Angelo guy were there, but that was it," Tyson said.

"I didn't do as well as I usually do, but that could've been for a number of reasons," Kai suddenly said, staring the prince down, who was talking enthusiastically with Layla as if nothing had happened. "That couldn't have been a wild guess."

Ready to restart the quarterfinals, the lights dimmed and the commentators presented the renovated stadium and the first two teams facing each other that day. Portuguese and the other Europeans entered the stadium and positioned themselves on each end. Like before, Lafiria and Vera were their first choice, but the Italian team decided to send Henry and Angelo to play against them.

On the mark all four beyblades were cast out at high speeds, missing an air collision by a hair's breath. Angelo took the rear while Henry charged with his Amphilyon against the two girls, but Vera wasn't someone who'd just refuse a challenge, and charged against him with just as much determination, with Lafiria close behind, bent on taking out the most dangerous foe first. Angelo's Vita was only useful when a four-on-four situation was going on and couldn't handle focused damage, but Angelo wasn't a slouch and, understanding their game, flanked Henry to stop them both from colliding with him at full speed. While Volenta hit Amphilyon, Vita took Eiss's full strength, draining a part of it to Henry. Before Volenta could react, he used the boost to easily toss her from the disk.

Lafiria muttered something to herself while Vera attacked Angelo hard again. He managed to drain her some more before finally succumbing and being flung outside the disk, which prompted Vera into switching targets and charging right for Amphilyon, even against Lafiria's advice. However, she dodged out of the way before a full front collision could take place and tried to use his inertia to push him out. With a satisfied smile, Henry recovered on time and pushed her back. Eiss still managed to hold onto its spin for quite some time, but they were far more drained and Amphilyon's Twin Headed attack hit in full strength, causing the light blue beyblade to be tossed right to its owner's face, who caught it just before it could actually hit her.

While both sides shook hands, the referee gave out the results and the second pairings made their way to the beystadium, with Samuel and Mellonie playing against Robert and Oliver.

For a second nobody attacked, observing each other's moves closely, until Samuel broke the ice and his purple and orange beyblade charged forward, being followed by Robert and Oliver. However, he only circumvented Griffolyon and Unicolyon, leaving them for Mellonie instead, who summoned her bit-beast to help her withstand the assault.

Then, while Robert and Oliver answered with their own bitbeasts, she put on a pair of purple sunglasses.

"What's she doing?" Daichi asked. "Those things aren't useful during a beyblade match."

Before anyone else could voice an opinion, Samuel's bitbeast manifested and all trains of thought were lost on the wavy motion of its beyblade. In the distance, the sound of metal could still be heard, but the purple haze was too gracious for anyone to bother and see what was going on.

Suddenly the beyblade was tossed away and Daichi blinked, shaking his head.

"What happened?" he asked more or less at the same time as Tyson, trying to clear their minds from the fog still lingering there.

"What a move, Brad! I had never been hypnotized before!" A.J. was saying.

"Me neither, A.J., and I bet it was a first for Oliver too because of the way he was easily taken down by Mellonie during the trance," he said enthusiastically as a replay was shown on the screens.

"But Robert wasn't fooled by this farce and tossed Samuel out like it was nothing."

"After all those sunglasses weren't just the Portuguese team's mad style talking."

"That technique was amazing!" Tyson said while the commentators continued talking. "Why didn't they use it before?"

"Lafiria's brother didn't let him, remember? He tossed him out before he could summon his bitbeast," Hilary answered.

While most of the stadium tried to make heads and tails from their hypnotized state, Mellonie and Robert had continued their match, both fiercely trying to win. Any fanatic would be left dazed by their speed and power, but Griffolyon was more worn that Stellar, and Mellonie's determination was just above Robert's to the point of being able to best him.

A sigh of relief was the only thing that came from her mouth when DJ gave her the win. After shaking hands with Robert and Oliver, both pairs returned to their benches, and after a brief discussion two new pairings advanced for the final round.

Mellonie and Lafiria would be facing against Robert and Angelo.

It didn't surprise Hilary seeing Mellonie's nervous and blushed face. After all, she'd play against the boy she liked, who she couldn't even look in the eye on a normal day, according to her friends. But, in all honesty, Hilary was in no position to blame her. Thinking about the very likely possibility of playing with Tyson against the Egiptians for their third match made her a nervous cloth, but she hid it better. At least no one had noticed how jumpy she had been during practice that morning. And the fact that Tyson took every chance he could to brag helped turn her nervousness into malleable anger.

In the blink of an eye, Volenta flew against Griffolyon, leaving Mellonie to take care of Angelo. He didn't hesitate and Vita charged against Stellar, but instead of fightning back or blocking, the golden and red beyblade dodged and fled across the beystadium. Even though it seemed a cowardly move, the commentators pointed out how contact was needed in order for Vita's draining ability to work, and without it no extra strength could be passed on to an ally.

Even though Mellonie looked positively terrified as she ran from Angelo, Lafiria laughed her heart out, keeping focused just enough to slow down Robert's spin and defend herself from his strongest attacks.

Still avoiding Angelo like the plague, Stellar managed to attack Griffolyon with two quick strikes before Vita got too close. Instead of following her again, Angelo changed priorites and turned against Volenta, hitting her briefly before she managed to break apart, both of them stealing endurance and spin from each other with the minor hit. Robert and Angelo charged together and she bolted in front of them. Angelo took the lead, as Robert was slower because of all the spin she had drained from him, and Mellonie took the chance to attack Griffolyon from behind with a rain of shooting stars. However, ready for such an assault, he dodged and managed to cut across towards Lafiria, tossing her towards Angelo. Before he could drain her strength and send it to Robert, Stellar hit Gryffolyon hard enough to throw it off the disk. Seeing such an outcome, Vita also threw Volenta away, but not before she drained all the spin she could.

Lafira gave Mellonie a thumbs up, as if saying that beating Angelo should be a piece of cake, but she didn't seem convinced of the fact. Instead, she kept running around the disk and away from his silver bey.

"The hell's her problem? It's like she's a coward all of a sudden," Tyson said.

"And her last game was so good… Girls are crazy," Daichi said, earning a smack on the back of the head by Hilary.

Lafiria slammed Mellonie's back so hard she almost threw her inside the beystadium. It seemed enough to throw some sense back into her because, with a long sigh, she yelled so loud the whole stadium could hear:

"VAMOS A ISSO!"

At the same time, her beyblade turned sharply around and met Angelo's in full force. Their attacks, counterattacks, turns and chases mirrored each other almost perfectly and sparks flew from more than just the beyblades until the match ended with Mellonie's victory. While she shook his hand, the red on her cheeks strenghned even more as Angelo said something to her, most likely a compliment of some sort.

Soon after that the Japanese were standing up and heading towards the entrance to the stage, meeting the Portuguese on their way out, who wished them good luck with huge smiles on their faces.

For the first match Tyson and Daichi would be playing against Tot and Iris. With a roar of applause, their beyblades took off on the referee's command and soon their bit-beasts emerged from them, unwilling to hold anything back.

Iris's bit-beast, an armoured Siamese cat named Basmet, sped through the disk, letting its blurring beyblade draw a perfect circle, while Tot's bit-beast, an armoured ibis named Wisebird, kept Dragoon and Strata Dragoon at bay. As soon as the circle was ready, Wisebird tossed Strata Dragoon into it, making the beyblade ricochet several times out of control, ending only when it crashed into Dragoon, making them both almost hit the circle again. As Tyson and Daichi had their beyblades go towards the centre of the disk again, Iris kept her beyblade surrounding the three of them, ready to attack anyone who got too close. Before Tyson and Daichi could come up with something to deal with her, Tot closed his attack, mainly on Strata Dragoon, who was weaker, and managed to push him into a corner, almost hitting Basmet's circle. That time, however, Tyson was ready and Dragoon hit Wisebird from the side, pushing him into the circle. With Daichi's help the beyblade was forced there and the clash between both Egyptian blades threw off Wisebird like a cannonball out of the disk and greatly slowed down Basmet, who wasn't allowed to recover and draw another circle with the dragon's close attack.

With a stronger attack Iris was allowed enough room to speed up again, just enough to be able to hit and run Tyson and Daichi without giving them a chance to counterattack, even if her attacks weren't that powerful.

"Dammit, she won't stay still!" Daichi shouted with frustration as he missed another chance to counter her assault.

"Let's fix that, then," Tyson answered.

"How?"

"How about you make a tornado, Daichi?"

"Huh? But we-"

"Just trust me. Right in the middle of the disk."

"_We can't make tornados, they're the ones with that power._"

"_Whatever, if this fails we can call him stupid._"

The purple beyblade started spinning in tight circles, gaining speed, as Strata Dragoon roared menacingly in the centre of the disk. Taking the bait, Basmet started circling around him in the opposite direction, slowing him down, and soon Dragon was circling around both of them, making a true tornado. Both Daichi and Iris's beyblades were tossed into the air, but Strata Dragoon landed inside of the disk while Basmet landed outside, immobile.

While the audience applauded the match, the four players complimented each other and then returned to their benches, swapping places with the next duos. Unfortunatly, Kai was still far from prime, even if he advanced just as determinantly as Hilary.

Maet and Horus's beyblades landed away from Kai and Hilary's as they eyed their foes, but quickly sped towards Kai. They knew better than to underestimate such an opponent. However, Dawn quickly got in the way of one of them, stopping Truthscale's attack, while Dranzer clashed with Rah. Annoyed that their plan didn't go quite as they intented, Maet summoned her bit-beast, prompting Hilary to do the same.

While Dawn skilfully danced around the turquoise alligator, looking for an opening to take her out, Dranzer was barely capable of staying inside the disk. Then, as if he wasn't worth the bother after all, Horus's beyblade turned around and, letting his hawk emerge from the beyblade, tried to hit Dawn from a blind angle. Warning Hilary, Kai sent Dranzer ahead, summoning him as well, and even though she managed to evade them Truthscale clashed with him instead, with a simple glance at each other, the Egyptian duo targeted him at the same time, throwing Dranzer unceremoniously out the disk.

Clicking his tongue, Kai went for his beyblade while Hilary sent Dawn to attack Maet before she could regroup with Horus. Allowing herself to run between the two of them, while chasing Truthscale and being chased by Rah, Dawn patiently waited for them both to get into the position she wanted and immediately lifted up while the beyblade took a sharp turn to the centre of the stage. Unable to slow down or turn as well, Horus's blade crashed into Maet's, catapulting her out the disk.

Untroubled, she turned around to pick up her beyblade while her teammate attacked again. The running was starting to get to Hilary and Dawn, and the bey was slower and more sluggish, but they still tried to find common ground to dodge and hit Rah. As he was far less worn out, a single mistake was all he needed to finally bury his claws on Dawn's back, who disappeared with a pained roar while her beyblade was thrown out the disk.

Frustrated that she couldn't avoid a third match, Hilary took Dawn for Kenny to quickly inspect, glancing at Tyson with worry.

When he met her eyes her heart skipped a beat.

"Don't worry, we'll be fine," he said with an easy smile as Kenny gave her the beyblade back. It somehow helped Hilary calm down, but the pace quickly picked up as she followed Tyson up to the beystadium, while Tot and Horus climbed the steps on the other side.

After the signal, the four beyblades lauched, and just as Dragoon and Dawn landed Rah and Wisebird were on top of them, trying to split them up so they couldn't help each other.

Without having to worry about her partner's wellbeing, Hilary was forced to run away from Horus again while Tyson tried to give her a helping hand. However, he always met Tot on the way, who attacked relentlessly to force all Tyson's attention on him.

"Dammit!" he grumbled.

"Focus on Wisebird, Tyson. Don't worry about me," Hilary said. Even if it was nice of him, she couldn't let him get thrown out while trying to help her.

"But-"

"I'm not helpless! Concentrate."

That seemed enough for him to mash against Tot, while Hilary summoned Dawn to help her gain some speed to avoid Rah and try a couple of attacks whenever the chance came, even if they all missed their mark.

Suddenly Dragoon emerged from his beyblade and Wisebird quickly followed, but Tyson was the one with the plan.

"Hilary, get ready to fly."

With a roar Dragoon created a tornado and the three other players were caught off guard and thrown into the air.

"_Dammit, what do we do now?"_

"_You can control it."_

Caught of guard by the voice, Hilary looked behind her shoulder.

"_I'm up here, silly."_

As she looked up towards the bit-beasts, Dawn was eyeing her, gliding in the edge of balance inside the tornado.

"_You can talk to me?"_

"_Of course. You're more like Hina than I thought, and you care about me. It makes me really happy and it makes it easy for us to talk. Your beyblade's about to get thrown off."_

"_Oh no, but how do I control it?"_

"_Hina showed you, didn't she? And didn't you see this move many times before? You know how it works."_

Without even thinking too much about it, Hilary knew the dragon was right. Not only did she know their hurricane attacks fairly well, all the dreams Hilary had had with Hina and Tai fighting together with the dragons told her exactly how Dawn should glide the rising winds so she wouldn't get thrown off. When they were both confortable, Dawn flew towards the other beyblades, trying to make sure they couldn't adapt, and while Rah managed to escape she got to Wisebird, hitting it multiple times to stop it from landing inside the disk.

Soon the wind calmed down and Dawn landed swiftly next to Dragoon while Tot went to fetch his beyblade, fallen outside the disk, and Rah struggled to regain its appropriate balance.

"Yeah! We got one of them, we can win this!" Hilary said, surprised and euphoric.

"As if we weren't in the first place," Tyson said, while both their beyblades sped forward, eying their prey. "That was pretty impressive, though, Hilary, I didn't know you and Dawn could do that."

"Me neither, to be honest."

With no more verbal communication, Tyson and Hilary chased down Horus while perfectly reading and blocking his every attempt to separate and attack one of them. Although their coordination wasn't as graceful as Ray and Mariah's, they had already trained together for a while and Hilary had watched him play for so long, instinct was all she needed to know what Tyson was thinking and doing, and he could read her just as well. The only reason why it hadn't happened before was because she was too nervous to just let herself go.

When Dragoon cut off Rah's path, Dawn had an easy time hitting the hawk out of the stadium, and the match ended in a shower of applause and a strong sense of relief.

Suddenly Ellivah woke up and, feeling confused, shook her head to clear it. It seemed that the drugs pumped into her system had finally been metabolized and she was sober again. The place surrounding her was alien, but not being able to recognize it was a good thing. It meant she had escaped.

The tube crawling up her arm contained only saline, and as soon as she got up she could feel surgical stitches pulling behind her back. Outside the window stood a green lady in cloth with a crown and a torch, raised high above her head, indicative of the North American area.

After she ripped the catheter from her arm she got dressed with the overalls and yellow t-shirt Hilary had gotten for her, hanging on a nearby chair waiting for that moment. Then she opened the door of her room and peeked into an empty hallway, hearing the faint clamour of distant applause. If there were games happening, the building was probably empty. It was a matter of time before Boris started investigating how the japanese bit-beasts had found their way back to their owners, so staying in a place with cameras was not an option. Dusk agreed and Ellivah sneaked out of the building.

As they crossed the small replica of Central Park that was the garden surrounding the American mansion, Ellivah caught movement on the corner of her eye and froze, with Dusk at the ready to leave her body in case she needed to defend her.

"I was a little hurt with the way you disappeared on me, young lady."

Whatever joy the Japanese team had with their victory waned as they found Ellivah had vanished from her bed. Without letting them fly into a panic, Mrs. Tate quickly scanned their security cameras, finding that she had left by herself and stopped at some point to talk to another person, who had masterfully hid himself from all of the garden cameras. Seconds later Ozuma and Dunga appeared from the trees and, after a brief conversation between the three parties, they all left the area.

With the hope that the Shields and the mysterious person could keep Ellivah safe, the Japanese returned to their area for dinner and a bit more training before going to bed.

Unable to fall asleep with worry, Hilary suddenly felt something she couldn't quite describe except with familiarity, and turned for the door. A cloud of dark smoke peeked from the other side, but promply disappeared, beckoning her to follow it. She jumped from her bed and did just so, letting it her guide towards a figure on the garden, half-hidden behind a tree.

"Ells! Are you ok? I was so worried," Hilary asked as the smoke vanished inside of Ellivah and she walked from under the shadows. The moon shone on her crestfallen face, as if encouraging her to speak.

"I am so sorry for what I did to you. They told me you and Dizzi were the only ones who believed in me."

"I knew you'd never do it willingly, not after everything we've gone through. Come on in, you must be starving, we still have some dinner left."

"Thank you, but I've already eaten, and I'm afraid I can't stay with you."

"Huh?"

"I don't want to keep dragging you into this. Kai almost died last night because of me and I… I can't stay. I'm sorry. I came to say goodbye to you," she said, barely making eye contact with her.

"But…"

"Please, don't make it harder than… it already is," she asked again, looking right into her eyes that time.

"Okay, I understand," Hilary ended up saying with a nod, letting a very nostalgic feeling come over her. "Do you want me to call them?"

"No, I don't think I can even face them right now, after taking their bit-beasts, and… I'm just glad he's alright. I hope Kai gets well soon. Please tell them I'm happy for everything they've done for me."

"Just let me know, are you hiding with the Saint Shields?"

"Yes, and with the person who helped me after Dizzi let me escape. We won't be able to get out of the island for now, but we should be fine until the finals are over. Then we'll blend in the crowd as the ships leave for the shore."

"And then?"

"I don't know. I'll find out when it happens," Ellivah answered with a sigh.

"Will you come back if you need our help again?" Hilary asked, prompting a soft smile from her.

"Of course."

For a moment they only looked at each other, but Hilary quickly hugged Ellivah with all the strength she could muster, avoiding the spot where she thought her wound was. Caught by surprise, Ellivah could only put her arms around Hilary in a more or less equal gesture.

"I'll miss you. Let us know how you're doing every now and again."

"I will. And I'll miss you too."

The cloud of black smoke emerged and wrapped Ellivah, and both let go of their hug. Then it rose towards the sky, leaving a slight trail that vanished with the cool evening breeze, as Hilary watched them disappear under the moonlight.

Chapter 21 - "_The Missing Link_"

Even after being knocked out of the tournament, Judy and her team's work was far from complete. They couldn't leave the island, but she could analyse the data they had collected so far and begin to implement it on the All Starz's beyblades and training techiniques. She hadn't slept much, but she was used to putting in the extra hours and she wanted to find something that could be used against the Dark Beasts the Russians were employing, which concerned her more with each passing day.

The door to her room opened when morning was high, but she was more or less expecting Emily to appear around that time.

"'Morning, mom."

"Oh, good morning, Max," Judy answered in pleased surprise, looking over her shoulder to find a mug of coffee, that she took from his hands. "Thank you very much."

"Emily's still asleep. She stayed up working late, too," he said, sitting on the chair next to hers. "What about you? Did you get some sleep?"

"I got enough," she answered, putting the mug down next to the computer.

"So, what are you two working on right now?" he asked looking at her monitor, which displayed a complicated looking chart and a file she had been writing.

"We were trying to figure out what happened at the incident two days ago, during the game with Russia and Saudi Arabia. Right now, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that Boris was trying to control that bit-beast directly, and force it to use its Silencing Twilight attack without the player's output. However, it's a very unstable attack, and the circunstances were inappropriate for its use when he tried to activate it a second time."

"And that's why Dusk went out of control?" Max asked.

"It's the only explanation I can find that matches with our data. It also explains why Ellivah reacted the way she did. We know Dark Power taps directly into the player's energy, so it would make sense to hurt the player if its used the wrong way. If we can prove all of this, we might have enough to report Boris to the authorities."

"You think they'll go after him?"

"I hope so, Max. They have to. I'm also including the championship's funder on my report. I tried talking to her yesterday about this entire situation, but she refused to see me."

"Wait, she might be involved in all of this?"

"Yes, but I have no idea why. She's a jeweller with dozens of mines around the world, who has only a fringe connection to beyblade. It's great that she decided to help Mr. Dickenson and set up this championship, but I'm starting to think there's more to her actions than just love for the sport. I just can't see what she gains from letting Boris do whatever he wants."

"Maybe he has something that she needs."

"But what could it be? She has more than enough money and is well known and well respected around the world. I don't understand it."

For a while both of them fell silent, staring at the picture of Midori Kodai on an article Judy had been reading, trying to come up with ideas to complete the puzzle that stubbornly refused anything that didn't fit in with the rest.

"Wait, she's been working for over forty years?" Max suddenly asked, after skimming the first paragraphs of the article.

"Yes," Judy answered.

"No way, she looks like she's younger than you, mom."

"I know," she sighed. "I need to know what facial cream she's using."

"It does look milagrous," he said laughing.

"Anyway, let's check when the matches begin, see what else we can do to help your friends defeat Boris's team," Judy said, reaching for the computer's mouse again. Although going outside of the venue's network was difficult at best, inside the closed network everything worked smoothly, and when the updated schedule with the semi-finals popped up, both of them opened their mouths in astonishment.

"What's this?"

"We have to warn them. Try connecting to Kenny's laptop."

In a couple of seconds a link had been established between both computers through the venue's network, and Kenny's face popped up on their screen with an easy morning smile.

"Good morning, Max, good morning, Judy," he said, while Tyson, Daichi and Hilary shouted at each other and beyblades could be heard on the background. "I wasn't excepting a call from you at this time."

"Are you practicing this early?" Max asked, somewhat surprised to even find Tyson awake at that hour.

"Yeah, it's going pretty good. Kai's back in shape, so we should be more than fine for the match against Portugal."

"That's why we're calling you, Kenny," Judy said. "You've been disqualified from the match."

"WHAT?"

His sudden shout brought the entire team's attention to Kenny, and Daichi and Hilary called off their beyblades from their training stadium.

"But why?"

"What's going on, chief?" Tyson asked while they all gathered behind him to look at Dizzi's screen. Only Kai remained on the wall we was leaning on, but he frowned and waited to see what else they had to say.

"We've been disqualified! Portugal goes directly to the final!" he shouted after opening the window with that day's schedule and confirming for himself.

"What? Why?"

"We don't know, when we opened the schedule just now it was already like that," Max said. "No explanation, no nothing."

"Ah-ha, but I have the explanation," Dizzi said. "In very fine print, but it's here alright."

"What does it say?" Hilary asked.

"Apparently, because we played against Egypt with only four players, they are demanding us to prove that our team still has five players and a technical support member. If we can't, we're going back home with nothing."

"That makes no sense, Russia played their first game with only four players and no one said anything," Max quickly noted.

"But on their second game they had five," Kenny answered.

"With _our_ player! Shouldn't they be disqualified for stealing Ells instead?" Tyson asked.

"The match between China and Russia is scheduled for five in the afternoon, so we have plenty of time to sort this out," Judy said. "Try talking to the organization and find out what's going on here."

"She's right," Kai said, pushing himself from the wall. "Let's go."

"We'll tell you how everything went later," Kenny said, getting ready to close the laptop.

"Demand to talk to the funder if you have to. Her name is Midori Kodai, she's the one behind this entire championship and she might have been the one to make this decision."

"Got it. Thank you, Judy."

And with that, Kenny closed Dizzi and raced to catch up to the rest of the group. The clerks on the information counter confirmed that they needed a fifth player to continue on the tournament and refused to tell them more or even giving them other options until Tyson and Daichi's shouting finally broke their patience. After being granted permission, they directed them to the most expensive hotel on the island, whose top two floors were being used exclusively by the main responsible for the entire championship. They were received by a young woman, who in turn escorted them towards a small office.

Behind a dark wooden desk sat a japanese woman in a tall chair, hands crossed, resting on its surface, and suble circles under her eyes, hidden beneath a coat of sharp makeup. She was old enough to have birthed any one of them, but there was an air of antiquity about her and, worse still, the feeling that they all had seen her somewhere before.

"What can I help you with, representatives of Japan?" she nonchantanly asked in their language.

"You're the one running this show, aren'tcha?" Daichi asked, unintimidated by her, her bodyguards or her wealth, worn on her wrists, her glowing necklace and the cut stone adorning the white wooden staff next to her.

"Yes, I am."

"You can't let us be disqualified from the tournament," Tyson said, taking a step forward. "The Russians entered without a spare player and no one bat an eye!"

"Boris was the one who came to me with this championship idea, and he had the spare player at the time. He mentioned that she was frisky, but he would get her back in time, and he did," she said with a shrug. "He didn't play once without the fifth player."

"Ellivah entered under _our_ team, it's not like she was shared!" Tyson slammed his fist on the table but the woman only stared back, holding out a hand to stop the two gorillas flanking her from interfering.

"You entered a player under a false identity, and that alone is illegal and enough reason to disqualify you from the tournament."

"We had to, she was being chased-"

"Then she should have never come out in public in the first place," the woman continued, interrupting Hilary's argument. She eyed the other members of the team, as if ensuring no other refutes existed, and Hilary took a deep breath to tell her exactly why Ellivah had been chased, when the secretary got their attention.

"My Lady, someone under the name Zagart wants to see you. He claims its urgent."

"Zagart?" she asked, raising an eyebrow, while the team traded glances. "Send these kids back to their area, I'll receive him immediately in the large office."

"Let the kids be. It concerns them."

He wasn't a man to wait for permission. Zagart had followed the butler from the front hall, then the secretary up to that room and strolled inside with Zeo just under his shadow. In a second he smirked and gave Tyson an okay, but his composure swiftly returned to that befitting of the heir of one of the most powerful men on the world.

"It's an honor to welcome you, Mr. Zagart. I'm sorry I can't offer you a seat, but what can I do for you?"

"You're letting the Japanese Team continue playing in this tournament and rightfully defend their title."

The answer puzzled everyone on the room, but the woman didn't show it.

"Why?"

"Firstly, their spare player is still on this island, just like everyone else, as there is no way to leave until the tournament is over, and therefore she can be called upon to participate at any given time."

"Theoretically," the woman started, but Zargat cut her with a louder and angrier voice, making sure it would be the last time she did so.

"Secondly, several other people here have been brought under fake identities, namely Boris Balkov, so if you call in the authorites over one girl, I will call them over everyone else. The third and most important reason being that my son could not participate in this tournament due to his excellent work in school, and so the best I can give him is a chance to cheer for his friends."

A smirk grew on the android and the japanese team's faces as the woman rubbed her forehead and pondered for a moment, avoiding eye contact with the imposing man in front of her.

"Very well, Mr. Zagart. I'll withdraw the complaint immediately. They'll play the first semi-final this afternoon."

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Beyblade World Championship semi-finals," said Brad Best's voice over the speakers as the lights of the stage dimmed and the crowd applauded.

"We've had tornados, ice storms and even a bit-beast running loose so far in the championship. It's going to be hard to top that one off, but the one team that can surprise anyone is playing right now!"

"After clearing some misunderstandings with the organization, the first semi-final of the day is going to be Japan vs. Portugal. Will the reigning world champions be able to keep defending their title?"

"I dunno, Brad, looks like those tenacious girls are ready to sweep the red carpet right from under their feet."

With confident smiles, Vera and Lafiria climbed up to the stage to face against Tyson and Daichi, like Kenny and Dizzi had predicted from their games thus far.

"We were worried about you for a second," Lafiria admitted, raising her voice so it could be heard over the bigger stadium, concealed for the first time behind a pair of metallic doors on the floor.

"Shucks, you didn't have to. We're still going to give you beating of your life," Tyson replied with a smile.

"You're just a bunch of girls, you don't stand a chance," Daichi continued.

"Bring it on, big mouth," Vera replied.

"We'll make you eat those words," Lafiria warned.

"The Portuguese team will start with Lafiria and Vera, a heavy hitter who uses Eiss to attack with vicious snow storms powered by their own enemy's spin, courtesy of Volenta's Will Drain."

"But Tyson and Daichi from Japan are considered to be one of the strongest duos in this tournament, and with their bit-beasts, Dragoon and Strata Dragoon, any attack can be a one way ticket outta this bracket."

"And now it's time to meet the stage."

While he spoke, the doors opened and the stadium was raised, showing a bowl of water with an island of sand in the center. The only place where the beyblades could spin without losing power was the top of the island, covered in grass like a small lawn.

"This dish was designed to keep players on their toes, and giving this little room to manouver means people have to get crafty with their teamwork."

"How about a dive, Brad? That beach looks tasty."

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

As they beyblades touched the dish, all of them landing safely on the grassy part of the island, Eiss dashed towards Dragoon, leaving Volenta to bait out Daichi, who was glad to go at her with full power.

"Daichi, no, what are you doing?" Tyson shouted as he saw both of them butting heads and Lafiria summoning her bit-beast.

"What do you think? I'm gonna win against her!"

"You're giving her your spin power!"

Before she could do anymore damage he split from her, letting her turn towards Tyson's Dragoon as he was focused on taking Eiss's attack.

"Argh, but how am I gonna attack if I can't hit her?"

"Hit the other one!"

"Hey, you should be paying attention to me," Vera said with a smirk as Volenta approached.

"Yeah, but I've fought this guy over and over and you're lacking compared to him."

"What did you say?"

With a stronger attack Dragoon separated itself from Eiss just before Volenta hit, leaving them both empty handed. Summoning Strata Dragoon, the dragon butt heads with Vera's icy wolf while Tyson summoned Dragoon to create one of his tornados to deal with the pegasus at a distance. However, the girls seemed to be expecting something of the sort, as Eiss responded with her Snow Storm. The tornado became a blizzard, freezing the water around the island and clouding everyone's sight. When it cleared, Volenta was on top of Dragoon, draining his spin and sending it towards Eiss, who was using it to dash towards the blue dragon, giving them no time to react. The orange beyblade jumped from it and, at the same time, her white and light blue one clashed against Dragoon, tossing it into the air. However, Strata Dragoon grabbed Volenta and used its own momentum to toss it away from the disk.

Both Tyson and Lafiria's beys landed behind them, immobile.

"How'd you like that?" Daichi said, pumped up for more.

"You'd better win, you hear me!" Tyson said.

"Whaddya want? You're the one who was reckless and called the tornado!"

"Hey, shorty, if you're not looking I'm just going to win," Vera shouted while her Eiss ran towards Strata Dragoon.

"Who are you calling shorty, old hag!"

"Old hag!?"

While Lafiria laughed away at Vera's Portuguese profanities, both her and Daichi met head on, just the way they liked, with Strata Dragoon holding on to Eiss's frozen wings to try and push it back and their beyblades drawn together like magnets. The battle seemed to be evenly matched, even with Eiss's improved spin, as Strata Dragoon withstood her attacks and dished out a tight assault, eventually pulling the wolf out of the sky and into the ice, seemingly putting Vera on the ropes. However, before he knew, Daichi's control over his bey slipped away from him and it skid dangerously away from Eiss.

"W-what's going on?"

"You're on the ice!"

Being absorved into the battle, he let himself be drawn into the frozen water, where the lack of friction made Strata Dragoon hard to control, while Eiss glided naturally across. The wolf took to the air again and its beyblade regained speed as it approached them.

"_We're not going down without a fight."_

"You bet! Show them, Strata Dragoon! Spike Saw!"

"Snow Storm!"

Eiss beat its wings into another icy wind while Strata Dragoon jumped with a claw at the ready to tear into it, and the beys clashed with so much strength the ice below broke apart. Only one beyblade remained visible at the end, floating on a lonely shard of ice.

"Victory goes to Portugal," the referee said, confirming Eiss was the only one still spinning.

"Conseguimos!" the girls said with a high-five while Daichi tried looking for his Strata Dragoon under the water, in a bit of a panic.

After his beyblade was recovered from the bottom of the small sea, Mellonie and Samuel advanced to face Kai and Hilary. As she reached the top of the stage, Mellonie turned to Samuel and whispered something in his ear that made him go red with embarrassment and yell back at her. With a laugh, Mellonie dismissed his protests and turned back to the stadium while she could only wonder what had it all been about.

"Hilary, don't get distracted," Kai said, making her turn his way. "When his bit-beast appears, don't look at it. Focus on our beyblades. We have to take him out first."

"Got it," she said with a nod.

With all of them ready, the referee gave the signal and the four beyblades dashed towards the grassy patch on the island. For a while they traded blows, with Kai dictating the pace and Hilary struggling to keep up with his intensity but, even if they were being pushed back, Samuel and Mellonie were holding fast and using his power to fuel their own energy.

When he said something to her, Mellonie called for Stellar and used its power to knock back Dranzer and Dawn, granting them some distance and time for her to pull down her sunglasses in front of her eyes with a smirk.

"Here it comes!" Kai warned.

"Nyx!"

Without wasting any time they both also called for their bit-beasts, but it was all they had time for. Trusting Dawn would be fine, Hilary concentrated on her white beyblade as it traded blows with Samuel's purple one, sometimes having to dodge Mellonie's attacks, but something on the beyblade itself seemed to make her attention slip away with its gracious moves.

"_I don't think I'll be able to keep this up, but if I get hipnotized we're toast."_

"_Close your eyes."_

While she had directed her thought of despair at something, she hadn't expected Dawn to actually respond.

"_But then I won't be able to see."_

"_You won't be able to see anyway, but if you don't get hipnotized then you can fight back. Use your hearing, I'll be your eyes."_

"_Alright, let's try."_

With her eyes shut she fully regained control of herself, but had to rely purely on her instinct to see what she was doing. Judging by the bit-beast's roars and the clash of metal, Dranzer and Stellar were fighting head on, while Nyx was after her and keeping its dizzy spell working. Her beyblade and Samuel's were hitting each other, but she had to be at a disadvantage.

"_He's onto you, about to throw it into the water."_

She waited for him to gain distance for the final blow and dodged as she heard him get closer. However, she hesitated and allowed him to get away from the beach line and back to the grassy patch.

"_Stellar is right behind us!"_

"Go up! Chase after Nyx!"

Her bey dashed back across the sand and Stellar met Dranzer again, but she didn't know how they were doing. Then, just as she stopped hearing her tip on the sand, she started hearing another one crossing into the sand, and then come right back out.

"_He's trying to get us from behind!"_

"_Turn, now!"_

Her beyblade did a tight curve backwards and Dawn turned around, catching the strange winged pterodactyl with her paw. Hilary clenched her fist as she heard her bey attack his in tight arcs from all possible angles, thinking she had the win in the bag.

When she heard another bey approach, she got away and let Kai deliver the last blow. She heard Nyx land somewhere and stop spinning, and opened her eyes to confirm it had landed by Samuel's feet.

"Alright, we did it!" she said with a jump of joy. However, when she looked up, her bit-beast was nowhere to be seen, and down on the disk only Kai and Mellonie's beyblades remained, locked in a tight assault.

"An incredible move by the Japanese duo, Brad, and even Hilary seems confused with what happened to her beyblade."

"Little does she know she sent it straight to the bottom of the ocean."

"What? You've got to ge kidding me…"

Tyson and Daichi's laughs behind her only made her head feel like it had a magnet pulling her towards the floor, while Kai took a deep breath, staying focused on the opponent that was left.

"Guess it's just you and me now, handsome," Mellonie said, pulling her sunglasses back up.

"Hmph. What about that Angelo guy?" Kai said, wiping the smirk off her face and popping a vein on her forehead.

"Oh, so you prefer being called a loner pain in the butt, huh?"

He didn't need to answer that. Dranzer dashed forward and met her enraged assault head on, sparks flying from their clashing beys.

"Star Shower!"

"Spiral Fireball!"

Stellar jumped high up and shot a dozen comets Dranzer's way, but the flame coated phoenix dodged them all, gaining altitude and colliding with the golden feline while her beyblade was tossed back hard. Stellar managed to stabilize itself and the beyblade landed inside of the disk, but Dranzer was already on top of it, with a series of quick hits that gave Mellonie and her bit-beast no room to breathe.

"Finish it!"

"Argh, I'm not losing against some brooding idiot! Get him, Stellar!"

With newfound strength, her beyblade jumped and piggy backed on his, hitting the top multiple times to throw it off balance, while her bit-beast jumped, making Dranzer's claws find only the sand, and then landed on the phoenix's back.

"What the-"

"Ha! That'll show you! Star Shower!"

"Lose them! Fly!"

Beating its wings, Dranzer gained altitude while more comet shards formed around Stellar's head. The golden bey had thrown the blue one from underneath and pushed it halfway inside the water. With a jerk of its head Stellar threw the comet shards and, while it managed to lose a couple of them with a twirl, most of them hit point blank, making Dranzer lose altitude and his blader stumble.

"Kai!"

"Don't give up!"

With a shout, he channelled his energy to Dranzer, and his beyblade regained power while the bit-beast's eyes flashed, and it turned ablaze, forcing Stellar off its back.

"Woah, looks like someone turned up the heat!" Brad Best said.

When Mellonie looked down her mouth opened to the blue bey's heat wave, making the ice blocks left from Vera's battle melt and even evaporate some of the water that was submerging it.

"Ok, that's some goddamn power," she thought aloud. Dranzer sped up toward her and she dodged its first attack but, even if she channelled some of her energy onto her beyblade, Mellonie bit her lip as it constantly missed its mark, while Kai's bey dashed around just enough to get out of her way.

"_They're persistent."_

"_Nothing we haven't dealt with before."_

"_True. But enjoyable."_

"_A little bit."_

"Goddammit, just stay still for a moment so I can hit you!"

"Now! Spiral Fireball!"

When she looked up, she realized she had let the bit-beast out of her sight, and Dranzer was making a nosedive straight towards them.

"Dammit! Give them another Star Shower!"

With a roar her bit-beast complied and Kai braced for the impact, giving whatever energy he could so that Dranzer could withstand the shock. It was hit by some of the comets, but dodged most of them and still collided with Stellar, kicking up a burst of energy that forced them to look away for a moment, but a golden bey was soon visible landing next to the referee.

"Victory goes to Japan," he said unceremoniously. While Hilary celebrated, Dranzer returned to Kai's palm and Mellonie rushed to retrieve her bey from the referee.

"Not bad," Kai muttered as he turned around to go back to the bench, but before Hilary could ask, Mellonie shouted loud enough for the entire stadium to hear.

"Not bad? I'm here fighting my heart out and your only compliment is "not bad"? Come here and tell me that to my face!"

Samuel and Vera, seemingly having materialized at her side, grabbed her arms and pulled her back to their bench, where Lafiria was shaking her head and Isabel was looking straight down to her feet, while their captain kept yelling at the air.

"Hey, wait a minute, you're not playing with me?" Tyson asked when Kai sat down on the bench. While he'd like to, his Dranzer had taken quite the beating, and he wanted to see how well they'd do against a pair who'd do more than just battle with beyblades against them.

"Go with Hilary. You two did fine yesterday."

"Don't tell me you're scared of that girl, Kai," Tyson said with a smirk, getting back a chilling stare for his trouble and making him turn back to her. "I get it, I get it. Hilary, we're playing together for the final round."

Her heart sped up so fast it hurt. "Huh, alright."

"Don't worry, if we play like we did yesterday we'll be fine," he said with a confident smile. She felt her cheeks warming up and had to look away, but it helped her gain a little confidence remembering how well they had fared against the Egyptians.

On the other side of the dish stood Lafiria and Mellonie, who shouted again as soon as she saw their opponents.

"Hey, I have a score to settle against that Hiwatari garlic head, so get him here right now!"

"Mellonie, vamos jogar contra o casal," Lafiria said with a sigh, strongly stressing the last word.

"Oh, tens razão," Mellonie said, blinking her eyes as if making sure she was right. Then, a smirk that would make Cheshire's Cat look friendly sprouted on their faces and Hilary and Tyson shivered involuntarily.

"W-what did they say?" she asked in panic.

"I dunno, but somehow they're even more scary than the Russians."

"Maybe we shouldn't have sent those two against them," Daichi said. "They're gonna get pulverized."

"Pulverized? They're just going to hear a couple of well deserved truths," Dizzi said with a bit too much enthusiasm for Kenny's liking.

"Maybe I should put you back on a beyblade."

Hilary's bey was retrieved from the small sea and, after a quick checkup from Kenny, the four of them were ready for the final battle.

Dawn and Volenta landed safely, but Stellar and Dragoon contacted in midair and stayed glued to each other until reaching the floor.

"My, my, we're on fire today," Mellonie said, without losing an ounce of strength on her smirk.

"Of course, he's playing right next to his beloved," completed Lafiria.

"My what now?"

"Attack, Dawn!"

Hilary couldn't let that remark slide and her beyblade slid across the island to get to her. However, they seemed to be more than ready for it. Stellar broke away from Dragoon and hit Volenta who, with a boost from its newly summoned bit-beast, hit Dawn before Hilary could even blink. It was the same move Lafiria's brother had used against them before but, unlike him, she didn't throw her off, instead letting her beyblade drain away her spin.

"Don't worry, Hilary, if you can't get your feelings across to Tyson I'll glady do it for you," Lafiria said with a slasher smile.

"And I'll be your Cupid. Go, Stellar!"

With a beam of light the golden feline emerged above the disk and Mellonie's beyblade tossed Dragoon as if it was but a feather. It landed right on the rim of the beach, with Stellar already on top of it, but Dawn arrived first and knocked her to the side, being easily chased and hit again by Volenta, but successfully stopping Dragoon from getting hit again.

"Will you two stop mocking us?" Hilary shouted.

"Hell no," Lafiria answered.

"Hey, Lafiria, she didn't deny it," Mellonie said, turning back to them afterwards. "You heard that, Tyson? Your partner is all doki-doki towards you."

While the two of them laughed away, his vein popped and he stomped the ground.

"First of all, your Japanese is laughable, and second, Hilary is a lousy cook who can't love someone to save her life!"

"What was that?"

"You heard me, princess!"

"Well, you're a disgusting pig who only thinks about eating!"

"You know, Kai, if they lose this it's completely on you," Daichi said, feeling embarrassed with their petty argument. With their bit-beasts against a pair that was actively fighting one another, the Portuguese duo was free to toss their beyblades around as they were toys. "Will you stop fighting and focus on the match?"

With Daichi's shout Hilary and Tyson noticed they had both been pushed to the rim of the sea and Volenta was in contact with them both while Stellar drew arcs to attack both of them in turns.

"I bet you'd love to be next to Angelo, just like the two of them," Lafiria was saying as Mellonie prepared a final collision to get them both into the water.

"Well, but not against you."

"Now! Phantom Evolution Hurricane!"

A typhoon kicked up that threw Volenta and Stellar up in the air when they were unable to slow down and ran straight into it. They both landed fine on the grass, while Dawn landed back next to Dragoon, by chance and Hilary's rapid focus in guiding her back down.

"Hey, what was that for?" Hilary shouted.

"Shut up and let me take care of these two."

"You're taking us both on your own for Hilary?" Mellonie said joining her hands with her eyes glowing.

"I'd be touched if I was her," Lafiria completed.

"But I'm not touched!" Hilary shouted. "I'm mad! I'm not a burden! I did just fine yesterday, I don't need him doing all the work by himself!"

"I don't need you shouting into my ear!"

With a grunt, Kai stood up and walked up to the stairs towards the dish, where his teammates were inches away from putting their hands around each other's necks.

"Stop!"

Both Hilary and Tyson turned around and almost felt shriking before his enraged stare.

"You're being played like a couple of fiddles. If my place in this championship wasn't on the line I'd let you get what you deserve, but you're going to focus on the match and ignore whatever they're saying."

They traded worried glances at each other and turned back to him crestfallen.

"Sorry, Kai."

"Look at that. Garlic head knows how to work with others after all," Lafiria said.

"If you call that working with others then he's the undisputed king," Mellonie answered, gritting her teeth. Then she smirked and shrugged. "But he did already get up close and personal with his beloved, so who am I judge his social abilites?" When she peeked at the other side of the disk, Kai had his back turned on her and was walking back to his bench. "He's not even listening?! Argh, he's so enervating!"

"Mellonie, the match."

"Who's out of focus now?" Tyson asked with a smirk as his Dragoon was inches away from hitting Stellar, with the dragon out of its bit and flying towards the golden cat in all of its glory. Both the beyblade and the bit-beast jumped, letting Dragoon pass right below them and meet Volenta on the other side, who drained them further.

"Not me," Mellonie said with a mischevious smile.

Both of the Portuguese beyblades were on top of Tyson's, and Hilary pushed aside her nerves to act. With Dawn out of its bit, her beyblade gained enough speed to catch up to them before they pushed Dragoon into the water, colliding into Volenta and forcing her away.

Their technician tugged at Samuel's shirt and he nodded back, telling them something in Portuguese. The girls answered in unisson and Stellar joined Volenta, letting Dragoon regroup with Dawn.

"They're planning something," Daichi said.

"What could be worse than what they've already done?" Dizzi answered, who had thoroughly enjoyed herself during the match.

Keeping close to each other, the two girls dashed forward, but it was a predictable move and Tyson and Hilary easily broke their formation to get out of the way. However, Volenta and Stellar took a sharp turn towards Dragoon, as if it was their goal to break them apart all along, and hit it mercilessly.

"Abandoned at the altar," Mellonie said while Stellar bit Dragoon's neck and it roared in pain.

"Oh, no! Dawn!"

"Not all love stories have happy endings," Lafiria said as her Volenta's horn pierced his back, and a bow of light formed in Hilary's hands.

"Sayonara, champion."

With a final double hit, Dragoon was tossed into the air, and Tyson's bit-beast vanished inside as the beyblade landed by his feet.

"Out again? Goddamit, what's wrong with me?" Tyson shouted, violently rubbing his head.

"One down, one to go!" Mellonie said, clenching her fist in victory.

"Isabel's plan's working really well so far."

"You're gonna have to go through us, first!"

When they noticed Hilary, her arrow was already fired and had pinpointed Volenta.

"Dawn, Breaking Light!"

The plumed dragon turned to light and followed the small arrow's path, clashing against Volenta and turning the entire stadium in a blinding dome.

"Remember what Isabel said, it's not an offensive move," Mellonie said, still covering her eyes with Lafiria.

"But where is she?"

It was impossible to see, but they could hear a series of quick hits of brushing metal on a sandy floor and a neigh of pain, making her fear the worse. When the light dimmed and other people were allowed to see again, Volenta was out of the stadium, next to their team's bench.

While Lafiria muttered something in frustration, Mellonie pointed at her opponent, fired up and ready for more.

"Hilary, we're having a showdown!"

"You got it!"

Their beyblades raced across the sand and met at the top of island, clashing multiple times as both of them were on the offensive and putting everything on the line for the spot on the final.

"I get it!" Kenny suddenly said, done with his analysis with Dizzi, getting both Daichi and Kai's attention. "They've found Tyson's weakness."

"Tyson's weakness?" Daichi asked.

"Think about it. Tyson's endurance is the best we have on record. That means he and Dragoon grow stronger the longer the match is going. If you take him out early, before he can get pumped up, then you have a bigger chance of winning against him."

"That wasn't such a short match, Chief."

"Yes, it was," Kai said, turning back to the dish. "They only really started playing after I yelled at them."

"And they used the fact that Hilary's bit-beast cannot get hit after she calls her to break them apart. When you combine it to the fact that Lafiria is some of the best in psychological warfare we've ever seen, it's no wonder we've ended up against the wall. It was an amazing strategy," Kenny said.

"Hey, hey, then can Hilary even win againt that yelling chocolate freak?" Daichi asked, while Kai glanced at the Portuguese technician, certain that she was more than just a target for their lousy jokes.

"If she can handle the bull, she can handle anything," Dizzi said.

While Daichi demanded a more detailed explanation, Lafiria observed the beyblades as they traded even blows with a deafning sound. Both of their bladers were as stubborn as mules and it showed even on their playstyle, but their attacks weren't all power like what Daichi and Vera preferred, and actually had some thought process behind. Up above, Dawn dodged every single advance Stellar made, while down below their beys were neck and neck. Isabel's plan envolved both of them dealing with Hilary after Tyson was out of the stadium, but they had only seen Breaking Light once before, from a video of her qualifiers final, and weren't ready for it. Now it all rested on Mellonie's shoulders, but Lafiria had given her quite a lot of Tyson's spin power. All she had to do was stay focused and catch Dawn off guard, and maybe she could even help with that.

"It's amazing how much effort you're putting in for your team, Hilary," Lafiria said, glancing at Mellonie, who readily got her queue.

"Or maybe you're doing it all to avenge your dear Tyson?"

However, their words only made her smirk back at them.

"Tyson can take care of himself. I'm doing it to show Angelo how he can win your heart with a game."

Both of them opened their mouths at the reply, but Lafiria sighed, shaking her head, when Mellonie quickly clenched her fist in front of her face and spoke between her teeth.

"Alright, here's the deal. You shut up and fight and we'll shut up and fight."

"Deal! Now get her, Dawn!"

"Not if we get you first!"

The blow got them both on the air, but they both landed back on the same spot and continued their assault, going around the island, pushing each other into the water and failing, and racing to return to the grassy patch.

"If I didn't know, Brad, I'd say these two are twins."

"You bet, A. J., this is a match for the ages! No one is giving an inch!"

While she was sure Mellonie's never ending energy had to run out at some point, Hilary was at her ropes' end. It was sheer force of will that kept her thinking of different moves to catch her off guard, but Mellonie and Stellar not only responded in the best possible way, they also attacked in ways that forced her and Dawn to improvise a defense or a last minute dodge.

"_Why don't we use their pattern?" _Dawn asked when Hilary started to doubt they could win.

"_Their pattern?"_

"_We all have a pattern of attack. We need to have room, but then we attack too fast and from too many different angles for anyone to fight back, right?"_

"_Yeah, that's the attack I made with Ells."_

"_Then, we need to use their attack against them."_

"_Star Shower?"_

She did love using that attack and Hilary could remember it well from Mellonie's previous matches. It made her beyblade move in a wide arc with their enemy at the end and, if it connected, she could use a series of quick hits, forming a shape like a five pointed star. The full attack was impossible to defend against, having almost always given her the victory.

But it did have one glaring flaw.

With a stronger blow, Stellar and Dawn were thrown back and gained distance again, but Hilary didn't rush in to meet her again.

"Dawn, Breaking Light!" she ordered, putting her arms at the ready to receive the bow from the dragon's wings.

"What? You don't have enough distance!" Tyson shouted, but she ignored him.

Lafiria said something in Portuguese and Mellonie responded by calling out her atack.

"Star Shower!"

Her beyblade started to move in the wide arc and they waited while Dawn's wings turned into soft light, up until the very last moment.

"Now!"

Hilary's beyblade dodged the strike at a hair's breath and Dawn beat her wings, suddenly solidified again, to lift up and get away from the shards that Stellar rained from above, catching the feline off guard and hitting it from below with its head. Her beyblade was drawing arcs and moving at blinding speed to hit Mellonie's faster than the eye could see, draining all of her strength until, with a final hit, she threw the device right towards her. In reflex, Mellonie caught it in mid-air, but she merely stared at the disk for a while, as if she wasn't really believing what was happening.

"Victory goes to Japan. They advance to the final," the referee announced.

"I did it!"

Hilary jumped with joy and Tyson soon joined her, too glad to be on the final to be mad at anything she had said during the game. Kenny and Daichi also rushed to their side to celebrate with them while Kai got up with a sigh and joined them at his own pace, relieved that at least Hilary was pulling her weight.

"Hey, you guys."

They turned to see the entire Portuguese team next to them. While they had sad smiles of their faces, it didn't look like they were too upset with the defeat.

"Congratulations. We got to see up close why you're the world champions," Samuel said.

"At least we won't have to fight against those Russians, or steal your game against your friends," Lafiria said with a shrug.

"I'm still stoked. That was such a great game!" Vera said, clicking her wrists.

"Me too, me too! I want a rematch!" Daichi answered, copying her pose.

"No way, I'm first!" Mellonie said, but then she looked back and forth between Kai and Hilary and scratched her head in confusion. "Dammit, I have no idea who I want to beat first."

"Why don't you decide while we're watching the second semi-final?" Lafiria asked, crossing her arms.

"Oh, yeah, that's an idea."

No one spoke for a moment, as they all turned towards the Japanese gate to give room for the Russians and Chinese, thinking about what was yet to come.

"Do you think they can win?" asked the sharp, rare voice of Isabel. "Can your friends win against the Russians and their Dark Power?"

"Ray and the White Tigers are sharp, and they have a lot of soul. They'll win for sure," Tyson answered with confidence.

"Yeah! Those guys are toast!" Daichi said.

While they walked towards the stands Kenny asked Isabel if she had really been the one to come up with her team's game plan, and when she confirmed it, with a lot of stuttering and Samuel's help, complimented her and the three of them discussed strategies they'd use against the remaining two teams on the tornament, while the girls continued to amuse themselves with teasing Tyson and Hilary, despiste their protests and best efforts to force them quiet.

On the stairs they found Zeo who, after the match ended, had gotten permission to join them and watch the last semi-final together with his friends. The North American and the Italian teams were on the their reserved spots and congratulated not only the Bladebreakers but also the Portuguese team for their great game, who quickly responded by saying Mellonie and Angelo should sit together to better trade impressions during the upcoming game.

In the midst of the laughter and the confusion everyone eventually took their seats, waiting for the stadium to be prepared for the second game, but Samuel stood up and left after being ordered by Lafiria to do something for her that not even the rest of her team fully understood, until she took his seat, right behind Kai, and leaned forward.

"I'm kinda upset that we didn't win, but I'm also happy that I didn't have to play against you. I might have had to say a few things I didn't really want to," she said.

"Leave me alone," he begrungindly replied.

"I thought that thing that the prince from Saudi Arabia said was weird, about you being engaged and stuff, but I wasn't expecting her to show up and play for Russia. And then, when her bit-beast almost destroyed this whole place, it sounded like she was in real pain. Was she thinking about how much she was hurting you with the-?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about. Just shut up."

"See? This is what I was talking about," Lafiria said with the shade of a smile as she noticed Kai's arms tensing up. Then the lights dimmed and she looked up to the stage, seeing the Chinese team entering from below them, under a shower of applause, and the Russian team entering from the other side, but without Ellivah in it, which made her raise an eyebrow. "Oh, it looks like she's not playing with them today," as Lafiria realized she wouldn't get another reply, she finished with a sigh. "Well, she seemed like a really nice person. I hope she's okay."

"Hey, you're on my seat," Samuel said from her side. Lafiria turned her head his way and tapped her foot, sure that Kai had said something but, with Samuel talking at the same time, she hadn't been able to understand it and knew there was no way he was going to repeat it.

"Alright, court her all you want, Romeo," she said, standing up and leaving to the empty seat between Mellonie and Vera, ignoring whatever he shouted back at her and the soda he thrust her way.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the second semi-final of this championship and the game that is going to decide who is facing the Japanese in our grand final," Brad Best said.

"That's right, and after the game we just watched these boys better step up their game 'cause everything is on the line!" A. J. said.

"After a tremendous match against the North American team in the quarter finals, it looks like the Chinese team, A.K.A. the White Tigers, are sending in Mariah and Ray again as their first pair."

"Their synchronization in unmatchable and their kitty cats do more than just scratch their enemies."

While the announcers spoke, with a nod to reassure themselves and each other, Ray and Mariah stepped forward towards the closed disk, basked in applause and the support of both the rest of their team and their friends on the stands, who shouted and chanted their names as loud as they could.

"Facing against them we have the precise Nikolai and the deadly Alexei, who use both long range to slow down their enemies and then brute force to deal the final blow."

"Both of these pairs are undefeated as of now, but one of them is about to lose, and this is going to be their tomb."

As the doors of the the disk opened and the beystadium was raised, multiple rocky hills slowly emerged, bringing behind a valley with a small river that split the disk evenly apart.

"This stadium has been based on the mountains of the Xi'An area on the centre of China," Brad said.

"But it's not a welcoming sight for the White Tigers. A single misstep and your beyblade is going to decorate one of those mountains."

After getting confirmation from the four players, the referee began the countown, helped by the entire stadium, save for the Russian bench, whose main tech was still very frustrated from recent events.

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

Just as the four landed, Ray and Mariah zigzagged among the mountains to hit Nikolai and Alexei. They managed to push them back and continued the assault but, as they reached one of the mountains, the Russians decided to call their Dark Beasts, and knocked them back with but a light tap.

"They are really strong…" Mariah growled between her teeth.

"So are we. Ready?"

"I'm with you, so of course I am. Galux!"

"Alright, Driger, let's go!"

With the appearance of their bit-beasts Boris smirked and his scientific crew got busy, as under several small doors opened to reveal beacons, blinking red light.

"What are those things?" Mellonie asked.

"An improved bit-beast capturing mechanism," Kenny said as Dizzi finished analising its signal. "And all of it is pointed towards Driger."

"He still hasn't given up on them?" Daichi asked.

"Why does he want them?" Samuel asked.

"This time I think it's just for revenge," Tyson answered.

"Hack it, Chief," Kai suddenly said.

"W-what? I don't think I can! Their defences are much stronger than yesterday and I'm way too close, they'll know it's me."

"We can do it, Kenny, I'll help," Zeo quickly said, sitting behind them.

"We aren't going just to save a file, we have to destroy their entire mainframe to shut down that thing!"

"When did that ever stop us, Chief?" Dizzi said. "If they are going to play dirty so should we!"

"I can't believe I'm about to do this…" he sighed, opening Dizzi's command window.

"You can do it, Chief!"

"Come on, Chief! Show them!"

Meanwhile, things were going rough for the Chinese duo. Their edge in experience was just barely enough to keep up with the Dark Beasts raw strenght. Driger took the brunt of their attacks while Galux used all the opportunities it could to hit them back but, as Ray clenched his fists and unconsciously took a step back, Tyson all but confirmed that the Dark Beasts were attacking him.

Bonecrusher had gotten one good hit on Driger, but Galux was counterattacking, sending it high towards one of the tall hills. However, that opened enough room for Karakut to land its Electrical web attack on the lynx. Mariah had her beyblade go to another hill to try and shave off the web on its jagged edges, only to find Alexei's beyblade coming down at full speed towards her. Ray was well on its way to block the hit, but suddenly Galux took a sharp turn and met Bonecrusher head on. Its powerfull head managed to find its way to Galux's underbelly and sent it flying. A jolt of pain surged on her stomach and Mariah cluched it, keeping enough focus to let her bey land just fine on the top of another hill, free of the webbing that was slowing it down.

"Mariah?! What are you doing? That wasn't part of the plan!" Ray yelled.

"I'm tired of that plan!" she yelled back, recomposing. "We play much better if we can take hits for each other! I don't want to see you get hurt just as much as you don't want to see me."

To get away from Karakut's special attack, Driger jumped to the top of one of the hills next to Galux, and Ray took a deep breath, reconsidering their options. If she was feeling the same way as he did, then it was an unfair plan and didn't really suit them.

"Alright, plan B."

"Plan B? What's plan B?"

"Hit them hard and hit them fast."

"I like plan B. Galux, Cat Scratch!"

"Thunder Slash, Driger!"

Both cats jumped from the hills and their beys galloped down. Mariah circled the hill, breaking it into countless small stones that were hurled in every direction, slowing down Bonecrusher while Driger charged itself with electricity, destroying the web that Karakut had tossed its way before it could touch him.

"You're welcome to cry on my shoulder if you get a scrap on your knee," Ray said.

"Hah! As if I'd cry for something like that."

Distracted by the rocks flying his way, Alexei failed to notice Galux right on top of him, and Mariah bey landed right on top of his, making it swerve dangerously as Bonecrusher roared and trashed to get Galux's claws away from its back. With a smirk, Mariah dealt it one final nasty blow before her pink beyblade jumped from the top of the other, while Ray managed to get the upper hand on Karakut and send it flying to another hill.

"Catch me if you can!"

While Galux weaved around the hills, Bonecrusher mostly just powered through them, which was her intention. When he managed to catch up, its dark aura thickened, he wasn't as strong as before, but Mariah still felt the bite of its attacks wherever they hit Galux. Some scratches had never stopped her before, and she glanced ahead to find Driger in position.

"Hey, big guy, how about you start being serious with me?"

As usual, the Russian player didn't reply directly. Instead, his gigantic boar smashed another hill and some of the debris hit Galux. She didn't feel that hit, but the bey lost some speed and Bonecrusher dealt them a blow from the side that took Mariah's breath away. She grit heh teeth and put a hand on her waist as Galux landed on the othe side of the creek, with the enemy bey already on her heels.

"Now, Driger! Thunder Slash!"

From the other side of the disk Ray's bey charged up, which in turn electrified the small stream. In the blink of an eye Alexei's bey was frozen in the water and its bit-beast paralyzed.

"Alright! They're doing it!" Tyson yelled as the crowed applaued the move. In the water Alexei's bey lost the rest of its spin and Bonecrusher's aura turned into an arrow shape, moving towards its blader.

"It's the same as it happened to that guy," Rick thought aloud.

However, instead of hitting Alexei, the aura was absorbed into a reflective material on the right side of his chest, and he merely grunted in frustration.

"Looks like they've found a solution to that problem," Eddy said.

"It's not over yet," Samuel said, pointing at a glittering next to Ray.

Ray had not been able to defeat Karakut on his own, only get it momentarily out of the way. His attack had left him wide open, and Driger was suddenly completely wrapped in its web.

"You're mine," Nikolai said. "Sparklash!"

The spider jumped and latched on to the tiger neck, giving it a dose of the same electrical shock he had given the boar. Only that time Ray was feeling it too. He fell to one knee and clutched to his chest, unable to breathe, while his other arm twitched uncontrollably with the current, and the Chinese bench stood up ready to go to him.

"Ray!" Tyson yelled.

"That's not good," Zeo said, as the machines heated up to start taking in Driger's power.

"We're too late…" Kenny said, looking up from the monitor.

Meanwhile, the one next to Ray remained calm enough to read the situation and find a way out of it.

"Galux, let's finish this! Cat Scratch!"

She wasn't able to make it on time to defend Ray, but Mariah was more than capably of taking on a blind spider and force it away from her boyfriend's bit-beast. Once she was done with her attack, Karakut's attack ring cracked in half and both it and Driger stopped spinning, forcing the two creatures to return to their bits.

"Victory goes to China."

Ray collapsed before any applause could be mustered.

"Ray!" Mariah crouched down and grabbed him by the shoulders as Lee, Gary and Kevin surrounded them. "Ray, talk to me! Ray!"

"I'm ok," he answered with some difficulty, putting a hand up and opening his eyes. "I'm fine, really."

"You're not fine, you've just been hit with a massive electrical shock," Lee said while Ray sat up with Mariah's help.

"I just need to sit down a bit."

"Don't. We'll make sure you won't have to play another game. Gary, no holding back," he finished, turning to his teammate.

"Yes, Lee."

With Mariah and Kevin's help, Ray returned to the bench and the crowed applauded both his effort and the next two pairings.

"Alright, guys, we're trying a different kind of backdoor," Kenny said, back on his task with reinvigorated drive.

"They've powered down the machines. They're not even interested in Galeon and Galzzly," Zeo said.

"That's fine. We'll use the time to setup in case there's a third match."

"Okay."

"Good luck, you guys," Hilary said, then turned to the stadium where the second match had just begun.

Even with half the hills crumbled down on the disk, all four players easily navigated around the debris. Lee and Gary's opponents, Pavel and Mikhail, went straight on the offense, more than willing to test their strenght against the Chinese duo. They were met with a counter attack strong enough to sent them flying back, immediadly followed by a quick move by Galzzly that threw Amur straight to one of the hills still intact. It pierced it through and through, but landed on the other side with nothing but a slight wobble while the hill crumbled away.

"They're not going to try that again. Keep attacking," Lee ordered.

Wthout a word, Galzzly dashed forward with Galeon close behind. All he had to do was support the big muscle and use whatever openings he created, betting on the fact that they wouldn't dare another direct attack.

Amur and Clawdigger regrouped and crashed into another hill, making the debris block their path. Li and Gary had their beys jump to the top of a larger rock, but their opponents had seemingly vanished. When he heard the sound, Lee and Gary just barely managed to escape as they were bombarded with another shower of rocks, courtesy of a massive black tiger with scarce orange stripes that had emerged from Pavel's beyblade. They called for their bit-beasts, but their escape route was cut off by a light grey lynx with dark green spots, that jumped on Galzzly and forced it on the ground. As Lee directed Galeon to his aid, he suddenly had to jump to the side as another hill was destroyed to send debris their way. Mikhail's beyblade moved out of the way just in time not to get buried, but Gary wasn't so lucky.

As Clawdigger landed, it was met from behind with an angry roar from a hidden lion.

"Black Lightning!"

Galeon passed through the river, coating itself in water and ignited it with electricity, hitting the grey bey with the force of a truck. It didn't even felt like he had defended himself, which worried Lee even if he had cast the bey back to its owner's hand.

He turned to Galzzly, fresh out of its tomb of rock, but Amur was instantly on top of it, giving it no time to recover. Gary took his hand to his face and yelled while Lee had Galeon join them as fast as he could, but Amur ravaged Galzzly, absorbing the bit-beast inside itself. As Gary's bey stopped spinning the black tiger turned to Lee and it's eyes flashed with mad power, making him feel shiver up his spine.

"You're next," Pavel said, pointing at Galeon.

"Over my dead body!" Lee roared, and his beyblade clashed full force against his. Pavel didn't even flinch at his rage and his strength seemed to scare him little as well. His sham of a tiger was, unfortunately, stronger than he wanted to admit, but Li was too clouded by anger to see another way to defeat it other than his own raw power. It was like punching a wall that punched back with the same strenght.

Galeon's attacks weakened as Lee started feeling the pain of the hits. Mentally he was far from giving up, but his body wasn't allowing him to take more beatings. He wasn't going to win on his own. They would have to play a third match. With who? A weak Ray and Kevin?

His hand closed in a fist and he screamed to the sky. Galeon dodged an incoming claw that could very well spell its end and returned to its bit. Then he waited, and moments later his black beyblade was landing on his feet.

"Victory goes to Russia. Prepare your teams for the third match."

"Lee, I'm sorry," Gary managed to say.

"It wasn't your fault," he answered, returning to their bench. There, he looked Ray in the eye and then dropped his gaze to the floor. "I'm sorry, team. I have failed you all."

Mariah jumped from her seat next to Ray and hugged their leader tightly. "Don't say that, Lee. You did so well."

He nodded solemnly and pushed her back, looking back to Ray again. "We need to get Galzzly back."

"Agreed."

"Wait, you're both a wreck! Let me fight!" Kevin said as Ray stood up from the bench.

"No, Kevin, you're staying put," Lee answered.

"But why?"

"Because we don't need another wreck in our ranks. If they get our bit-beasts you're the one who's going to get them back. Understood?"

"What do you-" then it hit him. They wanted him to sneak inside the Russian compound if it came to that. "Oh, I get it. Alright, if you put it that way."

"Be careful," Mariah said. They both only nodded to her and turned to the disk.

"How's it looking, guys?" Hilary asked.

"I think we're ready," Kenny answered. He hadn't taken his eyes off Dizzi for a second during the whole game and Zeo hadn't opened his, focused on his own task of covering Kenny's tracks.

"3, 2, 1, Let it Rip!"

"Go!"

Kenny furiously typed on Dizzi's keyboard as the beyblades flew from the launchers. Lee and Ray were facing against Pavel and Alexei. There were no more hills and the creek was buried under a mound of rubble. The disk had been changed into a trap of fissures where a slip up meant getting stuck until the beyblade lost its entire spin.

Their attacks were even at first, but the results of the previous games quickly caught up to Ray and Lee and they started losing out against Bonecrusher and Amur. Their beys were knocked back by a stronger hit, and the Russians quickly used the chance to call for their Dark Beasts and close the match quickly. Seeing Amur empowered by Gary's bit-beasts just ignited their own sparks.

With Driger and Galeon out and ready to fight, they managed to dodge the incoming attack and, with a sharp turn, counterattack with a fierce double lightning hit that tossed them into the air. With a simple word exchange, Pavel and Alexei hit themselves with a light tap, using the momentum to evade a fissure and land on separate rocks.

"Looks like they can work as a team, too," Robert noticed.

Meanwhile, Boris was starting to notice something wasn't right with his machine and demanded to know more from one of his workers. A drop of sweat formed on Kenny's forehead as he realized the circle was closing in on them.

The four beys were back trading hits, jumping from rock to rock and trying their best to have their opponents fall to one of the fissures. Ray and Lee were on the back foot, weaker from the previous fights, being beaten up by the unseen forces of the Dark Beasts, but managed to stay on pace from sheer force of will.

"_We need something, this is getting us nothing but bruises"_

"_We could create an opening for them."_

"_And defend ourselves how?"_

"_Lee needs this more than we do."_

"_Brace yourself."_

"Ready to take back what's ours?" he asked.

"Why do you need to ask?" Lee replied.

Ray steading himself with a deep breath and Driger let be tossed towards one of the fissures. However, it was just the right angle that it was sprung right back upwards by the incline, flipping back to its normal position and hitting Amu's attack ring, busy with Galeon. Caught between the two forces, Pavel only clicked his tongue.

"Maelstrom Pulse!"

The black tiger opened its mouth and, instead of a roar, shockwaves were cast from it that made their ears ring.

"Now, before it gets worse!"

"Black Lightning!"

"Thunder Slash!"

Galeon's mane and Driger's claws sparked, reacting with the shockwaves to create a small explosion. The smoke covered everyone's sight for a while, with only a red flash of light being barely visible crossing the disk from one side to the other. As the dust settled, two beyblades were still spinning, and two were at their player's feet. After picking up Galeon, Lee turned around to see Gary brandishing his red beyblade, with the bear's image back inside of it.

"Obsidian Tooth!"

He was still paying attention to the match, but Ray hadn't seen Alexei's bey moving so fast. Bonecrusher's canines grew to the size of spears and he threw them on the ground, making it break apart with his beyblade's movement and hitting Driger with enough force to toss it to the nearest wall. Ray coughed blood and everyone stopped for a moment, but Driger kept spinning on the wall and suddenly bounced back inside the stadium. The judge ordered the match be continued and Ray looked back up, panting but unwilling to give up. It was so close. They had to do it. It wasn't just beating Boris, there was a fight with Tyson and Kai on the line. One that would be far more enjoyable than that brutal show.

Bonecrusher and Driger charged forward and the stadium roared with enjoyment. Their special moves were used both for offense and defense, as Ray wouldn't let himself get caught unaware a second time, and was going toe to toe with his foe, both in speed and in power, while Boris's scientific team swore up and down that was anything but possible, and their capturing systems were being compromised and that was why they had been unable to grasp the white tiger as of then.

"Ah!"

Finally with an excuse to look away from the fight, Hilary turned around to find Zeo cluching his head, with his thimble out of his finger.

"What happened, Zeo?"

He shook his head and faced up again, recovering from whatever had hurt him. "They found me, Chief. Sorry."

"We're almost there…" he thought aloud without stopping, making them wonder if he had even heard.

The the tiger and the boar kept fighting. Ray was somehow still standing. Boris kept shouting at his team for results. Thunder Slash and Obsidian Tooth came into contact once more and the two beys flew in opposite directions.

"I got it!"

With one final keypress the monitors of the Russian technical team died, leaving the capturing device on standby. Amur landed on the edge of the stadium, but Driger landed, immobile, by Ray feet, and the bit-beasts disappeared.

"I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Driger is safe," Dizzi said, just as the applause for the winner erupted. No one from the Japanese, American, Italian or Portuguese team joined in, witnessing instead how the White Tigers waved at the stands, and helped each other to leave the stage.

"Guess it's up to us, then," Tyson eventually said.

Even with the previous day's result, the Japanese team was in generally high spirits after leaving their private area with a good lunch on their stomachs. Hilary was concerned, but feeling more confident about the game she thought she was going to be. Kai was as silent as ever, but determined to win another important final, Tyson and Daichi bickered with each other about the details of their fine strategy, mainely whom they should hit the hardest first, while Kenny tried, to no avail, to give them an actual game plan to follow against Boris's team and their Dark Beasts.

"Come on, you two, you should listen to what Kenny has to say. You are the first ones up, so you have to win to give us the early advantage," Hilary suddenly shouted, tired of listening to them.

"Don't worry, Hilary, they won't even know what hit them," Tyson answered with a calm shrug.

"Yeah, old hag, you can just leave everything to us."

"Do I need to remind you, you lost the first game on the semi finals against those Portuguese girls just because they managed to get on your nerves?" she shouted louder, with her fist an inch away from Daichi's nose.

"And do I need to remind you they got on your nerves too?" Dizzi said.

"You, Japanese Team."

They all turned their heads and their arguing died on Rachid and Layla's perfectly straight faces, followed by their teammates and bodyguards, having dropped all pretense of being players and fully commited to their true task,

"I need to talk to you. I suggest we go to our Saudi Arabian area. Our agents have already cleared the place and no one will hear us there."

"Clear the place? What do you mean?" Tyson asked.

"And agents?" Hilary said.

"Either you come with me now or I won't share this information with you."

Without waiting another second the commitive turned around and left, prompting the team to follow them. Their area was close by, warmer than the Japanese area and designed as a palace in an oasis, as the sand surrounded the palm trees and fountains that flanked the white bulding with arcs as passageways instead of doors. A cluster of sofas and pillows waited at an open space by the entrance with a central table, where the Japanese were ordered to sit down.

"Alright, prince Rachid, why did you have to bring us all the way out here?" Tyson asked as the royal took the central armchair. "We can't be late for our final against Boris's freaks."

"It's about Ellivah Kurotenshi," he answered, his playful tone still nowhere to be found.

"Ellivah?" Hilary asked, feeling a tight on her chest. Had she been found by someone?

"After you left us at the airport, I had GIP agents track you down at all times. To be quite honest, I was hoping they'd gather information we could use against your team in these finals, but…"

"Hey, I'd call that cheating!"

"Be quiet, Tyson. What did they find?" Kenny asked before he could continue his protesting.

"When she attacked you, I was as shocked as everyone else. I diverted their attention towards her to try and find the reason behind her actions."

"If you're going to tell us about her father, save it. We already know about the robot Boris was using," Kai said.

"And I know you do. However, we traced her actions back to when she first surfaced, around six months ago. She travelled with another man for a couple of weeks until she left him as well. And I'm sure you don't know who that person was," he said, looking up to the team.

"Not really, no," Tyson admitted.

"She never told us who that person was," Hilary said.

"Hiro Granger."

"My brother?"

"Yes. Your brother, Tyson, was hired to keep Ellivah under watch. He has been on her tail ever since, even after she split up from him."

"But that's impossible, Hiro's with my father helping him complete his research on the Saint Shield's clan history," he replied.

"Hmm, yes, your father, Tatsuya Granger. We're almost certain he's envolved in this whole thing too. He has been studying the Legend of the Priestesses, am I right?"

"You know about _that_ too?" Hilary asked in absolute astonishment. Just what kind of people were those GIP agents?

"Who hired them?" Kai asked. "Who hired Hiro and Mr. Granger?"

"Midori Kodai, the financer behind this world championship."

"What?!"

"You're not actually saying my family is working against us, are you?" Tyson bellowed, frothing from rage.

"Actually, no. On the contrary, our agents' report is inconclusive in that regard, but it does theorize that Mrs. Kodai is trying to protect Ellivah and, by extention, you."

"What? How? She tried to kick us from this tournament!"

"And she didn't seem to care during the time she was being held captive," Kai pointed out.

"What if she didn't know? Hiro was sent to find Ellivah only when she first surfaced. It's possible Mrs. Kodai had no idea she even existed before that. And think about your expulsion from the tournament. By forcing you to withdraw from the competition, you'd never have to face against Boris Balkov's team and their dangerous Dark Beasts. Also, she would have the perfect excuse to send you home early, with Hiro and Ellivah hidden away on the same vessel."

"You know where they are?"

"Of course I do. But I'm not sharing that information to avoid jeopardizing their location."

"You're full of bull!"

"Tyson, I have been cordial so far, but I do bore of your lack of manners."

"The security blackout two nights ago," Kai said, stopping any sort of answer. "Was that woman responsible for it?"

"We aren't certain, but it is possible," he answered with a nod.

Frowning, Kai started believing in the possibility of her being their secret patron, but could not fathom why, even if he felt like her face was somehow familiar, just like Ells had been when he first saw her.

"Do you know who she is?" Kenny asked.

"Yeah, why is she doing all these botched up things? Doesn't she know we never go down without a fight?" Daichi said.

"No. That's the scary thing about her," Rachid answered, locking his fingers again.

"What do you mean?" Hilary asked.

"She's permanent. She's been on our records for hundreds of years. Always the same woman with a firm hand on the jewelry market and a toe in beyblading. It's like she's immortal…"

"But that's impossible," Daichi said, voicing everyone's thoughts while they looked at each other in confusion.

"Your Highness, the finals are about to begain," Mustapha warned in a low voice.

"Thank you. Well, I wouldn't dare to keep you away from your match," he said, standing up from his armchair and adjusting his royal coat. "I only wanted to let you know this before you headed out to the beystadium. You have one real enemy, and I am sure, if you fight him with the same conviction you've fought so far, you will destroy him. After that, we'll see what occurs."

Chapter 22 – "_Under the Lights_"

"Good afternoon, everyone, and a very warm welcome to the Grand Final of this year's World Championship!"

"Presented to you by the partnership between BBA and Kodai and Kodak, this has been a very wild ride."

"I am Brad Best and this is A.J. Topper, with all you need to know about the upcoming games and the people involved in them."

"As always we will have a best of three with two pairs each, fighting to the death in wonderful custom made beyblade stadiums just for the occasion."

"And without further ado, here come the finalists!"

The stadium trembled with the energy of the crowd. From the left entered Russia, with Boris, Mikhail, Pavel, Nikolai, Alexei and two extra technicians with laptops under their arms. They had gathered some support during the competition, if only for their unshakable concentration and precise movements, but it was nothing compared to what the defending champions had.

From the right, Kenny, Tyson, Daichi, Hilary and Kai walked in, momentarily deafend by their troupe. Almost every single team that had participated in that tournament was cheering for them, incluing the Chinese, the Americans, the Europeans, the Brazilians, the Australians, the Saudi Arabians and their snobbish excuse of a prince, and the virtous Portuguese girls, whose only male member could only sigh at Mellonie's display of cheering that involved screaming foul words at their opponents loud enough to silence everyone a couple of seats around her.

They had given their all during practice the previous day. Everyone had come visit them that morning, demanding games to know if they were truly prepared or not. They couldn't fight against all of their friends, of course, but they had convinced enough people they would put up a fight. And, most of all, they felt prepared to take that victory straight from under their enemy's feet.

"Both these teams had stellar performances during the entire tournament, and now it's time for us to see who among them has the best players in the world."

"And we'll start by none other than the defending champions, Tyson and Daichi."

"Earth and wind combined means their opponents have nowhere to hide. One is muscle and the other is also muscle, but that doesn't slow them down at all."

"And the first challengers from Russia are going to be Nikolai and Alexei."

"They always come to the ring with a plan and it usually works. Will brain beat brawn?"

"While you think about that, why don't we take a look at the stadium where they'll face off?"

Slowly, with a deep rumbling sound, the doors above the disk opened to reveal a miniature castle on a cliff covered in tall grass, with a small pond licking its walls.

"This was designed around a fortress off the coast of Kamaishi, which now is no more than a pile of rubble."

"And that is salt water, so if your beyblades end up there they might become rubble too."

"Hey, Max, can I ask you a weird question?" Ray asked, on their usual seats with his teammates and the American team.

"Go ahead."

"Do you recognize that thing?"

"Sure do."

As they traded impressions over the strange dreams they both had been having during the last couple of months, Tyson shook off the feeling of familiarity with that castle, preparing himself for one of the most important fights of his life. Daichi quickly copied him and the Russians followed suit.

"Are you all ready?" the referee asked.

"Yes."

"Alright, then, let us begin the countdown. 3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Don't throw it that way!"

"Let it Rip!"

Kai's warning was a second too late. Both of the Russian beyblades collided with Dragoon in midair in a perfect angle to throw it right back to his feet, where it kept spinning just fine.

"What was that? Tyson is out of the fight before it even started!" Brad Best pointed.

"What… just happened?" he thought aloud, unable to look away from his Dragoon. He thought Boris wanted to fight him, for a chance to get his hands on his bit-beast. Why was he thrown aside? He would've known if he had payed enough attention, but the play had never even crossed his mind.

Strata Dragoon landed atop the cliff and Daichi looked around confused, as he was unable to find his partner when the other two beys galloped his way. As he noticed it was next to Tyson he screamed.

"Hey! What the hell is that thing doing there!"

"I-I…"

"What's your big idea of leaving me alone with these creeps?"

"Daichi, concentrate!" Hilary shouted, making him turn back to the stadium just in time to get out of the way of a dangerous double attack.

"Just what I needed…" he muttered.

"I had no idea-"

"Oh, can it. If you want to stay there and whine at least whine when I beat them."

"Do you even have any idea what these guys are capable of?" Tyson shouted back.

"Better than you, apparently!"

Finally his opponents caught up to him and sparks flew from Strata Dragoon, but he held his ground.

"Watch and learn, Tyson. I'm going all out!"

Responding to his energy, Strata Dragoon used the surge to toss Bonecrusher and Karakut away from him, making the bladers glance at each other with a shade of doubt. Tyson also responded by picking up his disqualified bey from the floor. It was pointless to feel sorry for himself, and Daichi had accepted the challenge wholeheartly. There was only one thing he could do to help.

"All right, we're all counting on you. You'd better not let us down."

"Hah! When did I ever let anyone down?" he said, making some, more sensible people, shake their heads. "Let's get them, Strata Dragoon!"

Suddenly his beyblade went of the offensive, unable to catch the Russian duo out of guard, but more than capable of going toe to toe against them.

"Don't push your luck, kid," Alexei said as their bit-beasts were summoned to bolster their attack power. Strata Dragoon was pushed back with a powerful blow, but Daichi merely smirked and rubbed his nose up at the two goons in front of him.

"Two can play at that game!"

The purple bey charged forward again as the golden dragon appeared from its bit, with a powerful roar, ready to butt heads with any one of their adversaries. Just as he did, the doors that had opened during the Chinese match reappeared, and the same dozen beacons started flashing again.

"Kenny…" Hilary started, tugging at his shirt and pointing to the one closest to them.

"There's nothing I can do this time, Hilary. Their defences are like a fortress and Zeo was damaged last time. He can't help us anymore."

"Then Strata Dragoon…"

"We can take a page of Tyson's book and just believe in Daichi," Kai said, then frowned. "But if someone else showed up it would save us a lot of trouble."

"Someone… You don't think-"

"I don't know," he quickly answered, but it was obvious by his reaction that he wanted it to happen just as much as she did.

Even after the painful reminder that the Dark Beasts could harm him through Strata Dragoon, Daichi still kept an offensive force capable of intimidating Alexei and Nikolai, never leaving Karakut alone to gain distance and use its webs and keeping one counter ready for when Bonecrusher charged in. It didn't really matter who he was fighting against and under what circumstances, he always loved playing that game and, if he was having fun there was little that could stop him. Tyson had always been the one to share such a feeling with him, but he was stuck as a bystander that time and gave him the entire game to shine. He had to use that chance to finally prove, one and for all, that he was the better player.

"You'll regret underestimating me. Spike Saw!"

His bey turned sideways and charged towards Karakut, but Alexei had other ideas in mind.

"Obsidian Tooth!"

With his own bey coated in dark rock and a stronger dark aura, he defended his teammate, as both him and Daichi were thrown back to opposite edges of the cliff. It was just enough that Karakut could bind Strata Dragoon with its webbing, significantly slowing it down.

"You're finished."

Bonecrusher took the easy advantage to sink a strong hit on Strata Dragoon, sending the bey flying high and Daichi almost fall out of his position. However, he managed to stand his ground and Strara Dragoon landed back on the edge of the cliff, immediately dodging out of the way of another direct attack by Karakut.

"These people are relentless…" Kevin said.

"It's just unfair fightning two on one. They don't seem to mind it one bit," Emily said.

"If Daichi pulls this off it would be nothing short of a miracle," Max said.

"Yeah, I'm still recovering from yesterday and I was only dealing with one of them," Ray answered.

"Come on, Daichi. You can do it."

Strata Dragoon counterattacked, but his strenght was waning. Nikolai was starting to feel more confortable to return the attacks instead of baiting him for Bonecrusher, and the result was Daichi getting shocked on occasion on top of the bruises every hit on his bit-beast gave him. The Russian duo could feel him finally weakening and Alexei tightened the assault further, while Nikolai fell back to toss another web.

"Daichi!" Tyson shouted. "You lose now and I'll never concede that you're better than me."

A new spark ignited in his eyes as he turned to Tyson in a flash.

"What was that?"

"I thought you were strong enough to be my rival, but looks like you're just a whimp after all."

"Why you…"

Stomping his foot, Daichi turned back to the disk and roared out his frustration. Strata Dragoon's eyes glowed and it destroyed the incoming electrical web with one swipe of its massive claws.

"That's it!"

"Obsidian Tooth!"

"_Not this time."_

"_Get him!"_

The golden dragon was close enough to catch one of the enlarged canines of the boar, surprising it, and used the momentum to sommersault it on its back. The purple beyblade manage to win the attrition war and tossed Alexei's into the salt water.

"You did it!" Tyson shouted.

"Go, Daichi!" Hilary said.

"Tyson knows Daichi well enough to know when he still has more mileage to give," Dizzi said.

Observing the easy smile on Boris's face, Kai only grunted, fearing what would happen to their teammate should he continue with such an intense game.

"Sparklash!"

Strata Dragoon managed to use its arms as a shield, but the spider landed on them just the same and electrified it. The dragon roared and Daichi's hair spiked more than usual but, keeping his arms crossed in front of his face, he managed to whitstand the hit.

"Why is he not getting shocked?" Hilary wondered.

"Strata Dragoon represents the Earth, it's a bad conductor," Kenny said, analysing with Dizzi. "Unlike Driger, who represents metal and lightning itself, both of them excellent conductors."

"Not enough for you, huh?" Alexei said with the shade of a smile. "How about this?"

A whirpool agitated on the water and, in the blink of an eye, Bonecrusher jumped, climbed up the cliff wall and hit Strata Dragoon from above, throwing it to the other side of the disk, opposite to the castle.

"No way…"

"He's still going?" Max thought aloud.

"How? Forget about the water, with all that salt that bey shouldn't even be moving properly," Emily said.

As they talked, Karakut used Sparklash on Bonecrusher, charging the bey which then charged forward with too much speed to be safely dodged and the force of a truck.

"Get out of the way, Daichi!" Tyson yelled.

"Never! We can take them on!"

"_Here goes nothing!_"

Spike Saw went through towards Bonecrusher as Strata Dragoon spit out a mound of lava against the boar. It powered through and hit the dragon on its chest, tossing both it and Daichi back. Daichi's bey was again tossed towards the sky, as the collision sent Bonecrushed back to the castle like a bullet, crossing it through and through and breaking it into pieces. Daichi flew to his team's bench, hitting his head on the side of the cover and passing out, Bonecrusher fell back into the water, without spin that time, while Strata Dragoon landed back on the cliff, coming close to a still.

"Daichi!"

Just as Tyson, Hilary, Kenny and Kai gathered around him, a flash of lilac raced from the entrance to the stadium towards the stage.

"Strata Dragoon!"

When they turned it was Ellivah, panting from running all the way from somewhere unknown, who stood where Daichi had been fighting up until that point. In his weakness, the dragon managed to turn one of his golden eyes towards her.

"_You."_

"Please, trust me! I can keep you away from them, it's the only way!" she pleaded, with urgency and sincerity as the machines began sucking his raw power from the beyblade as it stopped spinning. For a moment Strata Dragoon didn't move or say another word, but it quickly opened its eye wide in rage.

"_Avenge my Daichi."_

"I will," Ellivah answered, raising her hand and, in a flash, grapsing and breaking his connection with the beyblade. Materizlized, the dragon's paws touched the ground and it roared, free from the grasp of the other bit-beast or the machines that beeped in alarm, before vanishing in golden light and seeping into Ellivah's extended forearm, turning into a image of his aspect.

Ignoring Boris's shouting of her name or the casters wondering why a dragon had appeared on the stadium out of nowhere and then vanished just as fast, she turned around and ran towards the team, crouched around Daichi, while the medics arrived from the entrance of the stage and he slightly opened his eyes, looking around wearily.

"Strata Dragoon…?"

"He's right here, look," Ellivah said as she crouched in front of him, holding out her arm. He slowly touched the image of the dragon, but dropped his hand right after as he finally fainted.

"Daichi!" Tyson, Hilary and Kenny shouted, trying to wake him back up.

"Go with him to the infirmary," Kai said to Tyson and Hilary as he stood up, a gesture mimicked almost at the same time by Ellivah.

"But…" Hilary started.

"I'll fight for you. We'll be fine," Ells said. Trading looks between each other and after looking back at Daichi being carried to the stretcher, Tyson and Hilary nodded to them and chased after the medics, leaving a worried Kenny with a very determined duo, who, after no more than a glance at each other, turned to the stage and climbed up the steps. They had never played together before, but it could be argued that they had never needed that sort of training in the first place.

"What a surprise! Not only does this girl appear out of nowhere and absorbs Strata Dragoon, it looks like she's the one teaming up with Kai againt Mikhail and Pavel!" Brad Best said while the four players prepared their beys.

"There isn't a lot on Ellivah, but the information we have says to watch out, because her Dusk bites hard," A. J. Topper continued.

"So far neither of the Russian players has met defeat, and their bit-beasts are so cool they give me the chills."

"This one's going to be a dozy."

"And speaking of dozy, take a look at this dish!"

The doors on the floor in front of them opened to reveal a snowy field, surrounded by a small brush made of fake pine trees and mountains on their right side. As the commentators claimed it would be a nightmare transversing through so many obstacles and she agreed, Ellivah's breath was only really taken away when she finally recognized the place.

A white valley cradled by a mountain range, surrounded by brush and a drop of red on the snow…

A touch on her shoulder made her look away from the scenery and to the side.

"Concentrate," Kai said, pulling his hand away. She nodded back and copied him, aiming her laucher towards the snow. It might have been like the place where she died, but it would be the place where she'd prevail.

After confirming everyone was prepared, the referee lifted his hand and started the countdown.

"Let it Rip!"

Clawdigger and Amur started to quickly circle around the snow but, not intimidated in the slightest, Dranzer and Dusk followed suit, looking for an opening to attack.

"_This is stale. Let's show them how wrong they are for underestimating us."_

"_Understood."_

Dusk jumped towards the carved mountains and, avoiding the dangerous cuts on the rock, used the incline to gain the speed she needed for her attack.

"Watch out!"

With Kai's warning she managed to spot Amur on time to dodge out of his way. His positioning was too perfect for it to be just chance, and Mikhail was doing a phenomenal job of keeping Dranzer under control. The manouver had forced her to lose most of her momentum and their enemies were in no place she could take advantage of.

"_Again."_

However, as she turned around, Pavel was right in front of her, and Mikhail, with Dranzer behind, was close enough to block her secondary route towards the mountains, forcing her to clash against Pavel in a weak attack compared to what she had hoped to do.

"_They're always in my way."_

"They're stopping us from gaining speed…" Ells muttered as she realized it.

"That's right," Pavel said, getting her attention. "Without speed your beyblade's no better than junk, and you refuse to use Dark Power so your bit-beast is as good as butter. You're no match for us. Amur!"

Responding, his black tiger emerged from his bey and, using its power, it hit Dusk with enough force to throw it into the air, but it landed just fine on a tree trunk, using it to bounce back into the snow while Ellivah clicked her tongue in frustration. When she looked back towards Dranzer, it was being collapsed upon by both Amur and Clawdigger.

"Go, Dusk!"

"You're not making there on time," Mikhail said.

"If you think you're taking me down because I'm alone you're dead wrong. Dranzer!"

In a flash of red the phoenix emerged from the beyblade and dodged Clawdigger to meet Amur's assault head on. The brown bey turned around and charged right back, but his bit-beast was catapulted backwards by Dusk, who leapt on top of it and used it as a springboard to return to Dranzer's side.

They had to attack before the Russians regrouped, and didn't even need a glance to know what the other was thinking.

"Go!"

"Go!"

The four beyblades clashed with enough force to whip up a cloud of snow, but none of the players lost their focus even if they couldn't see what was going on. When the air cleared, one of the teams was receiving a fierce beating.

"Incredible, Brad, look at those moves!"

"Is it really the first time these two are playing together?"

"I'm definitely feeling it right now."

Kai and Ellivah's beyblades zipped around in the snow, hitting the Russians again and again without giving them room to breathe, never leaving each other open or getting on their way. Dusk baited out their attacks and then leaped away while Dranzer attacked, scoring them easy hits and pushing their felines further back.

"They're not even talking to each other… How are they doing that?" Kenny thought aloud.

"You know what they say about star-crossed lovers, Chief," Dizzi said with a bit of a mocking tone.

"Don't joke around, Dizzi! This is seriously the best I have ever either of them fight, they might even be able to win before the Russians use Dark Power."

"I sure hope so."

"_Why didn't we start by doing this?"_

"_I might have been afraid. Working with others was never our strong suit," _Ellivah answered, without losing focus on their game. _"But now I don't want to stop. Dusk? Why are you laughing?"_

"_Even if our necks are on the line you're having fun."_

"_You're right."_

They were close to the rim of the disk and had put their opponents between them and a bit of forest. Hitting them against the trees should be easy and would end the match.

"_Something's not right."_

"_I have that feeling, too."_

Kai looked around, trying to find why they were being allowed to get shoved in. The machines that had tried to capture Strata Dragoon had silenced quite a while ago and Boris's team seemed to going at their tasks while he issued a command to his players that he couldn't quite understand.

The machines were operational and they were only being tested.

"Get back!" Ellivah yelled all of a sudden, having gotten to the same conclusion. Their beyblades turned around and dashed away from a blast of energy that blinded them for a second, but, when they turned back to the dish, the Russians's beys were back at full speed and their bit-beast had gained a thick, dark aura.

"We didn't make it in time…" she muttered while Kai grit his teeth.

"_I don't think they would ever let us."_

Ready for the counterattack, Amur and Clawdigger dashed forward in a flash and, altought Dusk had the speed to evade them, Dranzer didn't and was thrown back by the assault. A grunt made Ells look to side and Kai was holding on to his left arm, making her stomach sommersault.

"_They're really using my power to hurt the bladers," _Dusk growled.

"_Damn them…_ Get them, Dusk!"

Mikhail and Pavel smirked as her black beyblade rushed to catch up to them, circling and pushing Dranzer, making sparks fly as the metal brushed violently, one of them without letting go and the other hitting it from the back in quick succession. When she was close enough, suddenly they broke apart and left Dranzer wide open, but they were prepared for that possibility and, opening her wings, Dusk jumped above Dranzer, ready to land on the other side and turn without leaving the phoenix open again.

However, when they looked back, their oponents beyblades were right above them.

"This is boring," Pavel said.

"Too predictable," Mikhail said.

"No."

They clashed with a dark burst of energy, but when it vanished it had been the Russians who were forced back. Dusk was spinning with just the same speed, but the dark aura on the hound was no longer subtle, having turned strong and thick just like theirs.

"Get ready, Kai. We're giving Dranzer Dark Power, too."

"Keep it," he answered.

"What?"

"That's your power and you're free to use it. And we'll use our own power to fight those two."

"_Are they idiots?"_

"I understand," she answered with a nod, turning back to the disk.

"_Suit yourself."_

Seeing as their power wasn't enough, Pavel and Mikhail channelled their energy into their Dark Beasts and their aura thickened, making Kai grunt and prepare for the worst. Amur and Clawdigger went back on the offensive, deeming Dranzer as the weak link that had to go down first. While Dusk didn't just let them wail on the phoenix, Kai wasn't one to run, getting another scratch or bruise for every hit that landed, but handing one back of his own with a grit of his teeth. Their coordination was still much better than Pavel and Mikhail ever hoped to achieve, but the sheer difference in power was the edge the Russians needed, and Dusk and Dranzer were slowly losing ground, being pushed towards the brush where manouvering would be impossible.

Ellivah forcefully pushed the felines away from the lock they had created, hoping she could gain back some ground for Kai to recover and strike back, but their opponents merely used the trees as a ramp to climb and turn around, targeting her instead.

They were comng too fast for her to able to dodge.

"_Wait, we can…"_

"_They're underestimating us. We're not missing this chance."_

"_And give them the victory?"_

"_You trust them to take it."_

Suddenly a wall of fire rose in front of her beyblade, created by a blue blur. Enveloped in fire, Dranzer had gotten in the way of the lynx and the tiger and caught the brunt of their collision.

"_Idiots!"_

Dusk's voice was hushed by the shrilling sound of metal. As a reflex, her bey got out of the way and Dusk crouched, but she still heard Kai's shout as he was knocked back by the energy burst. Dranzer crash landed on the floor and his blue beyblade was catapulted out of the disk. Ellivah turned around, finding he was crouched close to Kenny, and the capturing machines were well on their way to absorb the phoenix's power, immobile behind them.

"Kai!"

He did, however, manage to lift his head and look at her in the eye.

"It's up to you!"

Clearing all doubts from her head and letting the rage in her heart fuel her, Ellivah turned back to the disk and tapped into the creature on her arm, gaining its approval. Both their opponents' beyblades were struggling to get rid of the parting flames Kai had given them, creating an opportunity they absolutely had to take.

"_Dusk, we're hitting them with all we've got."_

"_You're putting your life in jeorpady for very low odds."_

"_Strata Dragoon will help us."_

"_Understood. We'll get them before they recover!"_

Concentrating, Ellivah had Dusk jump to the top of the mountain and then run down at full speed, channeling not only most of her energy but most of Strata Dragoon's onto her bit-beast. Ellivah's hair broke loose as Dusk's aura grew stronger, golden instead of black, turning into an arrow as it gained more speed and power. In the blink of an eye, Dusk was too fast for the Russian team to even see, let alone stop.

"Silencing Twilight!"

No more than a blur, her beyblade clashed against Clawdigger faster than a bullet, destroying it to its very core. Then, with a wide arc around the disk, it turned around and hit Amur, also smashing it to bits as Dusk pierced the Dark Beast from side to side. But they weren't done, as her beyblade jumped from the disk and flew across all of the capturing points, destroying them one by one and interrupting their process. Turning around one final time, the beyblade landed on the center of the snow and came to a stop, while Dusk vanished inside of it and the referee announced the victor of the game.

Barely able to hold her own weight, it was a pair of strong hands that helped her steady her body as it threatned to fall down.

"Well done," Kai said as she turned her head up, meeting his softened purple eyes.

"Only thanks to you," she answered.

"Can you stand?"

With her nod, he let go of her shoulders and both of them put an arm up to thank the audience for the support they had shown and were showing them for the match. As a nearby voice called, they turned to the referee, who had approached them to return Dusk to Ellivah. The energy of her last attack had partially melted the attack ring and rendered it unusable. In turn, Kai showed her his Dranzer, broken down into its components with the crash against the wall. When she didn't recognize an intact bit she looked up with a glint of worry, but he merely tapped his arm, and she noticed a tail feather on his skin, peeking through his sleeve.

"You've learned faster than I thought you would," Ells said, letting her smile grow wider.

"I had a good teacher."

Even if none of them could play during the final round, they knew there were other people they could count on. And, sure enough, when they turned around to return to their bench, Hilary and Tyson were emerging from under the gate, focused and determined, meeting them halfway to the bench.

"It's all on you now," Ellivah said.

"How's Daichi?" Kai asked.

"He'll be fine. He just needs to rest," Hilary answered.

"Don't worry. They won't even know what hit them," Tyson said.

"Show them what we have that he'll never get," Kai said.

"You got it," they both answered at the same time.

Then the pairs broke apart, one towards their final match, and one for the bench.

"Congratulations, you two. That was a great match," Kenny said, holding out his hand towards Ellivah.

"Thank you, Kenny," she said, taking back the twin hair bands with blue marbles that had fallen during the match from him. For a moment she only looked at them, remembering how Hilary had given them to her months ago simply out of kindness.

"Shouldn't you go to the infirmary, too? You're far from being in one piece."

"I'll be fine," Ellivah answered, shaking her head. "I can't go there and I can't stay here for much longer."

"I'll put those back on," Kai said, turning to the bench and beckoning her to follow him. She sat down next to him and Kenny sat next to her, opening the lid of his laptop, while she handed the hair bands to Kai and turned her back to him.

"Alright, Dizzi, what are our odds for this one?" Kenny asked.

"If Tyson doesn't let himself get caught in the air like the last time, I'd say they're more than 5%."

"That's not very comforting, you know."

"Hey, you asked for an opinion, I'm just reading the numbers."

"I've never gotten the chance to thank you," Ellivah said in the meantime, looking down to her hands.

"Hmm?"

"For saving me again. I've lost count of how many times you've done it."

"I must be a natural," Kai answered, resuming his work and tying one of the bands to half of her hair. She chuckled, but when she spoke again her voice was melancholic and sad once more.

"I'm really sorry for betraying you. I… I thought I had no choice."

"It's okay," Kenny said, having picked up on the conversation. "We know what happened, none of us are holding any grudges against you. Right, Kai?"

"Yeah, he's right," he said, letting go of her other bunch and letting her turn towards him. "We've all forgiven you."

Feeling a sort of warmth soothe her heart, she looked down to her hands on her lap and felt her eyes swelling up, but before she could say anything else a shout echoed on the stadium.

"3!"

"2!"

"1!"

"Let it Rip!"

Maybe she'd have the chance to talk some other time. At that moment, there were more important things at stake and she had friends to support.

Tha beystadium had once again changed, that time to a feudal period mansion surrounded by a forest made of bonsai, a sight that resonated deeply with everyone who had dreamt of the past, save for Ells, as Edonisu had never seen the mansion where Hina's journey had begun and ended. But, even if it was the site of the most painful memory of Tai and Hina, somehow Hilary and Tyson felt encouraged to be able to fight there, as if they were avenging them somehow.

That time there were no clashes in midair and all four players landed on the small grass patch around the mansion where it was easy to navigate. Staying together, the pairs circled around the building and found their foes on its back. The first clash sent waves around the crowd.

"Wow, the Russians already played one round but they still have a lot of energy left," Max noticed.

"Yeah, and the salt from Bonecrusher seems to be completely gone. They must have cleaned it during the second match," Rick said.

"But Tyson and Hilary are both still fresh," Ray reminded.

"Yeah, look at them go."

Their coordination wasn't the best, but they didn't need to be fancy in order to guard each other and attack when the opportunies were created. However, their focus only meant that the fight was balanced, as opposed during the previous match when Kai and Ells had easily shoved their foes into a corner. Alexei and Nikolai were still focused and didn't let themselves open to a more serious attack.

"_Don't you find something strange about the way they do battle?"_

"_Something strange? Like what?"_

"_Not in their strategy per se. It is in their auras. And I do not mean their Spirits, I mean them."_

"_Not that you mention it… It's like they're afraid of something."_

"_Took the words right out of my mind."_

"_But afraid of what?"_

Using a small opening, Tyson glanced at the Russian bench and at Boris, muttering something between his teeth. It was probably his fault. He had threatened Ells before and didn't keep a speck of remorse about it, he could be doing the same thing to them, which would explain their meticulous playstyle and absolutely ruthless plays.

"Tyson?" Hilary suddenly asked. The game was proceeding and none of the sides had given an inch.

"They're afraid of something," he said.

"Yeah, I was thinking about it, too."

"_Desperate people make for dangerous people._"

"We need a plan," she said, heeding Dawn's advice.

"I'm all ears."

"I'm still working on it!"

A stronger attack threw all four beys back, resetting their positions. Then, Nikolai pointed at them.

"The faster you two go down, the better for us. Karakut!"

"You can't win everytime, Tyson. It's our turn to be the best. Bonecrusher!"

With their Dark Power ready, the yellow spider and the deep red boar towered in front of them, and their beyblades dashed forward with improved speed.

"I'd be fine with it if you played fair!"

"Here they come!"

They also summoned Dragoon and Dawn, and while the first one tanked Bonecrusher's attack, the second jumped above Karakut, letting it get lost among the bonsai forest. Tyson reached for his hand and shook it to try and cool it off.

"Oh, no…" Hilary's thoughts slipped out and her heart sank as she realized she had no choice but watch Tyson get mangled, because if Dawn ever got hit she wouldn't be bruised, she would just lose.

"What? This is nothing! Concentrate on what you have to do, I'll cover for you." Tyson shouted as he noticed she was only staring at him.

"Dragoon's not a tank!"

"Dawn is even worse, so hurry up and come up with a better idea!"

None of them liked that plan, but Hilary turned back to the stadium and started fishing for openings. However, she needed a direct hit to put one of those beys out of commission, and they weren't making it easy for neither of them. Bonecrusher focused on her, and even if he wasn't exactly fast, it was enough that she couldn't catch him without risking getting hit by a counterattack or a stray webbing that Karakut weaved around Dragoon. Most of those got destroyed or blown away before they could reach the dragon, but Tyson was unable to close the distance between them.

"They're playing better right now," Mariah said.

"Almost like they are desperate," Lee said.

"Come on, Tyson, Hilary!"

"Don't give up!"

"I've had it!" Tyson growled, preparing a tornado to send the spider flying.

"So have I! Obsidian Tooth!"

Bonecrushed smashed the ground and opened a rift between the trees right on Hilary's path. Tyson clicked his tongue and Dragoon cast the tornado towards them instead, making Bonecrusher lose its balance just enough that Dawn could escape by climbing up a tree and bouncing off a branch to safety. However, that let Dragoon open to be first caught in one of the webs, and secondly tackled by the spider. The bey was thrown towards the wall of the mansion and left a hole, but was still spinning inside.

"Dammit!" Tyson muttered, feeling his owns movements constricted as Dragoon was still trapped in the web.

"Breaking Light!"

Hilary had managed to find an opening to use her special move. Her arrow hadn't find a mark, but the stadium was still momentarily blinded and that was good enough for what she wanted to do. With Dawn guiding her, she managed to find her way towards Tyson's bey and free it from the webs, as the same time Dawn cracked enough strings for Dragoon to be able to free himself from the rest.

"_You could do the same for him, you know?"_

"_What? Healing? I'm not Hina, I can't do magic."_

"_I think he felt better just from you touching him right now."_

As the light faded, Hilary realized her hand was on Tyson's shoulder, but she withdrew it and refused to think about it or its implications.

"_Let's just focus on the match."_

"_Right. I'm sorry."_

"_It's ok."_

"Thanks, Hilary. Did you get any of them?"

"No, all I could do was help you."

"That's more than fine."

As their beyblades left the mansion Alexei and Nikolai jumped on them from the rooftop.

"Bold move, but doesn't work on me! Phantom Evolution Hurricane!"

Dawn quickly moved away as the winds gained altitude, catching them both and making something in their eyes twist.

"Think again, champion!"

Suddenly, the auras around Karakut and Bonecrushed thickened and they growled deep, sending shivers up Hilary's spine. Around their beyblades the same aura appeared as dark winds, countering Dragoon's whirlwind and dissipating it.

"No way…" he muttered as they both landed safely, one in each side of Dragoon.

"Get out of the way!" Hilary shouted, but nothing he could've done would've prevented that hit. Karakut grabbed hold of Dragoon and jolted it while Bonecrusher's tooth grew. Tyson managed to send enough energy to his bit-beast to avoid a more dangerous hit, but it pierced Dragoon's shoulder, making it cry and Tyson crouch down, holding on to it. Calling for him, Hilary grabbed him by his shoulder and turned back to the stadium, where Bonecrusher was getting ready for another, deciding attack.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

Bolstered by her shout, Dawn's wings turned to light and she shone it on the two Dark Beasts, who ran away like vampires run from the sun. His bey was still spinning, but Tyson was panting and something scary was seeping into his sleeve.

"Are you ok?" Hilary asked.

"It's just a scratch," he said, standing back up.

"It doesn't look like a scratch," she answered, getting up with him.

Seeing as they were still standing, Nikolai's face twitched.

"No! We're not going back to that abbey!"

Suddenly the aura around the Dark Beasts thickened again and they became barely visible, hidden under a cloak the shape of a spear that lifted dark winds around the stands.

"It's not over yet," Tyson reminded her, and they both fell back into position, prepared to meet their new assault.

"So that's what this is all about…" Ellivah said, and Kai nodded without taking his eyes of the Russian duo.

"I thought I had seen them somewhere before."

"Guys? What do you mean?" Kenny asked, holding onto his glasses with one hand not to get them blown off.

"They were from the abbey. Second rate bladers that never made it into the Blitzkreig Boys," Kai explained. "It must have been the very best Boris could find desperate enough for success that they were willing to do anything he told them to."

"And now he's threatning to throw them back into a hellhole just to keep them engaged in this match," Ellivah said with a knot forming on her stomach. "Just how cruel can one person be?"

"That's precisely why they don't stand a chance against Tyson."

Although she wanted to retort, Ellivah decided against it and turned back to the disk, hoping Hilary would get to the answer to their victory in time. But even if she did, what guarantee did they have that Tyson was going to be able to overcome the kind of fear that consumed her when Boris threatned her with her father's life?

With their new level, the assault of the Dark Beasts escalated even more. Dawn was still capable of dodging away from the hits, but only for Dragoon to get hit with the aftermath of most of them. Tyson kept his arms in front of his face in a defensive posture, but it did little to lessen the damage Dragoon, and by extension him, were being dealt. Karakut tried to catch Dawn in its Sparklash, and Bonecrusher had locked his Obsidian Tooth in Dragoon's claws, creating a lock that Tyson was gritting his teeth to survive in.

"_They are so fast…"_

"_Dragoon and Tyson are seriously hurt, but I can't protect them like this."_

"_And our beyblade is taking a beating, too."_

"_We need to get rid of that power. They'll be defenceless without it."_

"_The_ _Dark Power…_ Ah! That's it!"

"Hilary?"

"Remember my fight against Kurai? And what I did to those two bit-beast in your garden before the eleminations?"

"Yeah, so… You can dispel Dark Power!" Tyson said.

"I don't think those guys even know how to fight without it."

"We have your plan, then"

"But I need an opening to be able to use Breaking Light."

"You can leave that to us!"

With a final push Tyson managed to break the lock with Alexei and dash towards Karakut and Dawn. They both got out of the way, but Dragoon took a sharp turn towards Karakut, engaging in another clash with the yellow bey. Bonecrusher tried to attack Dawn, but Hilary had her bey dodge at the last minute and force it against one of the bonsai. Karakut had managed to get a point blank Sparklash on Dragoon but, with a yell, Tyson and his bit-beast managed to carry the electrified spider all the way to Bonecrusher, turning around from the failed charge, and pin both Dark Beasts against the wall.

"Hilary, now!"

"But I'll have to hit Dragoon!"

"_That's fine. I won't harm him."_

"Come on!"

With a nod, Hilary received Dawn's bow and her arrow met her mark in Dragoon's back.

"Breaking Light!"

In her light form, Dawn collided with all three bit-beasts and momentarily blinded everyone on the stadium. She knew she had nailed the shot, but when Dawn's presence suddenly vanished Hilary felt worried for the first time that she couldn't see what was happening.

As the light dimmed and the dark wind died out, Dragoon was on its own.

"Dammit!"

"Where are they?"

Looking up, although their dark aura was nowhere to be seen, Bonecrusher and Karakurt had both found their way to Dawn and were letting it go from a successful attack. A shriek made Hilary look down to the disk, and a scream chocked on her throat. Alexei and Nikolai's beyblades had hers in between, and its components were splitting apart. As they mercilessly kept pushing in, the parts of her white bey suddenly jumped with an ear-shattering sound, thrown away so fast that they vanished, leaving only the bit, intact and with Dawn's image still on it, landing by her feet, as if apologizing for its failure.

While she had never given too much attention to beyblade before and thought the spinning tops were silly things, after falling in love with the sport and using her own for so long, seeing it being destroyed right in front of her eyes felt like a wedge being pushed into her chest. Hilary could barely numble a word as she dropped to her knees, unable to hear the shouts from the crowd or the commentary anymore.

"Hilary."

She looked up, more on reflex than out of her own will, but she couldn't see Tyson's face as he kept facing the stadium.

"It's alright. You gave it your all. And you did really, really good. You're the reason why we're here now. And now we can finish what you started, and I promise you, we're not letting you're hard work be in vain. DRAGOON!"

In the blink of an eye, Dragoon turned around and, with a double swipe of its claws, threw back both enemy bit-beasts, while their beys were flung backwards from just contact with Tyson's. However, while the move did catch them off guard, it wasn't enough to win, neither were they expecting it to.

As the three beyblades clashed again and Dragoon flawlessly stood its ground, Hilary took a deep breath, picked her bit from the floor and spoke with a moderate volume.

"Listen up, Tyson! If you lose, I won't leave you alone a single day, I'll mock you about this game for the rest of your life and I'll never talk to you again!"

While Tyson had a heartfelt laugh, Dragoon bit away a string of electrified webbing Karakut had sent his way in a futile attempt to retrain him and headbutted Bonecrusher to the stratosphere.

"And how are you going to mock me for the rest of my life if you won't talk to me, princess?"

Although Alexei's bey managed to land inside the stadium, they were both on the back foot. Unused to playing without the Dark Power, they struggled to come up with a balanced plan to take out the angry dragon that stared them down.

"I have no idea, but I'll come up with something!"

"Let us save you the trouble! You heard that, buddy?"

"_We don't keep a lady waiting."_

Dragoon's roar sent shivers down the entire Russian bench, resonating on the stands even with those that couldn't see him, and Boris closed his fist with so much strength it bled. The white bey made its way to one of the bonsai of the stadium, but bent it without losing speed.

"Phantom Evolution Hurricane! Full power!"

Shrouding itself in sonic winds, the beyblade allowed the tree to launch it and Dragoon charged with its claws at the ready. Caught off guard, Alexei and Nikolai scrambled for a defense, but came up empty handed. Their beyblades and bit-beasts were tossed around in the tornado until they were out of sight. As the winds dissipated, Bonecruhser and Karakurt were gone, and the beyblades fell without a drop of energy on the edges of the mansion's field.

"Victory goes to Tyson Granger!"

As the crowd erupted, with a triumphant roar Dragoon vanished inside his beyblade and jumped to Tyson's open hand. He turned to Hilary, who seemed lost in the middle of such loud noise at first, but then shook her head and slapped her cheeks to make sure she wasn't dreaming.

"Well, come on, everyone's waiting!" He said, holding out his hand. With the biggest and happiest smile he ever saw from her, she took it and lifted it up, triggering another standing ovation from the audience and everyone else watching from the shadows.

As costumary, the winner's trophy would be given out by Mr. Dickenson. However, that time the main funder wished to be a part of the ceremony. A step for the Japanese Team was set up in no time, and soon Tyson, Kenny, Kai and Hilary were standing ready to get their rewards while the crowd still cheered and clapped for their success. Word on Daichi was that he was still asleep, and Ellivah had left shortly before Tyson's victory, claiming to finally understand why they believed I him. With a small comitive behind them holding the medals and the trophy, Mr. Dickenson and Mrs. Kodai appeared from the side of the beystadium and stood in front of them. Then, another member of the staff brought the woman a microphone and she turned to the stands.

"I thank you all for coming here, to this island of mine," she waited until the stands fell to silence before continuing. "I thank you. This was a week with several problems, and I apologize for these shortcomings. I thank you for presenting us with some of the most memorable beyblade battles in history, by some of the most talented youths the world has ever seen. I thank you for upholding the values of sportsmanship where others would not. And I thank you for staying with us until this day. From this moment and until tomorrow sunrise, every order at every diner in this facility will be on me."

An applause almost stronger than the one held for Tyson's victory echoed around the stadium, with the winner himself being one of the loudest approvals of the offer. Using that momentum, Mrs. Kodai turned to Mr. Dickenson and nodded to him, gave the microphone away and started handing out the medals. She started with Tyson, giving him a second medal to give to Daichi once they visited him, then Kai, and she stopped for a moment in front of Hilary after putting her medal around her neck, as if analysing the final product. That woman did look young for her age, but something about her was familiar and made her feel a strange sort of melancholy, as if it was someone she longed for many years.

"I-I'm sorry, our friend-"

The woman raised her hand, guessing the rest of the sentence, and gave her another medal.

"Give it to her once you see her."

With a deep bow, Hilary thanked the woman and she moved on to Kenny. With that, Mr. Dickenson gave the cup to the one in middle and, once everyone else had a hand on it, Kai held it high, and the crowd gave the Bladebreakers yet another stading ovation.

Chapter 23 – "_Sever the Past_"

After their packs were done and the trunks closed, the Japanese team left their designated area, ready to return home with their title and without too much worry. Daichi still had a couple of bandages around his head and a nasty wound of his arm, but his energy was almost back to normal and he insisted on leaving the infirmary and meeting the rest of the team that morning to leave with them. As for Tyson, he claimed to have nothing but an irritating hole on his left shoulder, and had refused a support for his arm at least until they were back home and could stay put.

As they walked the crowd around them slowly grew bigger, and while some people approached them to congratulate them and ask for photos and autographs, as they got closer to the airport no one else did so. Starting to get concerned about the staggering number of people gathered in front of the airport that didn't bother to compliment the winning team, Tyson and Daichi raced ahead to find out what was happening, leaving Hilary, Kenny and Kai waiting at the edge of the Mozambique area. They returned shortly afterwards just as worried as everyone else around them.

"Well, what's going on?" Hilary asked.

"There's no planes," Daichi answered. "None of them returned to pick us up."

"What? That's pretty strange," Kenny said, taking Dizzi out of her shoulder bag to try and find out more for himself.

"They say the same thing happened with the boats," Tyson continued. "There's no way to get out of here."

"So we're all trapped on this island?" Hilary asked, feeling a sliver of fear gaining shape on the back of her head. "How are we getting out?"

"Attention, visitors."

All of their stomachs twisted at the distorted voice and they looked around. Several speakers had been placed on the island and, while they had merely looped reminders and advertisement for merchandise during those days, they had just echoed with Boris's voice.

"We hope the event has been enjoyable and we apologize for the delay. There is a missing person on this island, and while the transports are nearby we cannot call them until she has been found. If you have any information regarding Ellivah Kurotenshi, please go to any of our information desks. Your help is deeply appreciated. Thank you for your comprehension and we apologize once again for the delay. Attention, visitors…"

"He's taken the entire island hostage!" Kenny shouted while the message looped back, scratching his hair. "No, it's even worse, he's gotten all of these people to look for Ells! I don't think the Saint Shields will be able to hide her for much longer."

"Let him take her, we can just save her again after we get outta here," Daichi said without a worry in the world.

"It's not that simple, you should know that by now," Tyson answered.

Before any real argument could start between the two of them, Kai turned around and started running back inside the coumpound, prompting the rest of them to follow him, demanding him to stop or at least slow down and tell them where he was going. It was a futile question, he had no idea where she was, just that he needed to find her first.

"Kai!"

They all stopped and turned to the familiar voice, finding Mariam atop a tree close by.

"She's turning herself in! The boys are trying to stop her!"

"Where is she?"

"Follow me!"

She swung on the tree branch and dropped to the floor, running to the country restriced areas while they followed suit. Close to the exit of one of the tunnels that connected the entire venue, Ellivah prepared to climb up the steps towards the entrance of the Russian area while the guys from the Saint Shields watched, holding back a tall, blue haired man. Even though she had feverently refused not to go back with them, once they demanded Dusk from her she handed her over, inside her beyblade, without hesitation.

"You idiot, they'll just beat you up more if you don't have this!" Ozuma bellowed when she took a step forward towards the steps.

"But you'll be off the island, and you'll be able to complete your job," she said in a completely monochordic voice, as if she nothing but a doll.

"What about Hilary? Legend says she'll die if they kill you!"

"They won't. I'm too important for them. They'll force me to call Dusk back, but if you seal her, even if I do call for her, she won't come. If you want to do me a favour, seal her as fast as possible."

"And you're just leaving it at that? You're a coward, Ellivah!" Ozuma shouted again, but she didn't stop climbing the steps. The snowy pine trees were just in sight.

Something caught her wrist from behind and she turned around, readying a punch. She froze in place and her chest dropped when she locked eyes with Kai. Behind him, next to the Shields and Hiro, stood the rest of the Japanese team, and Tyson started shouting at his brother with little care of everything else around him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking back to Kai.

"You're not going back for our sake."

"That's not your decision to make."

"I care too much for you to see you get hurt like that again."

Time stopped for a moment while he gathered up the courage to say what he needed to say next.

"I love you, Ells. Don't go."

It was uncanny, even for him, how Kai managed to keep looking straight into her eyes while he felt his chest about to burst and Ellivah's cheeks turned bright red and her lips parted into a small gap.

But it didn't take long for someone else to speak their mind.

"Did you just-. Shutting up now," Tyson quickly corrected himself when Kai looked over his shoulder at him in ire. With a light sigh, he wiped it from his face and turned back to her. His hand was still around her wrist, but Ellivah had taken the chance to turn sideways, her cheeks burning and her eyes staring at the questioning floor. No one said anything, waiting for her to break the ice.

"I wanted to protect you. More than anything else," she said slowly, without looking up. "I couldn't forgive myself for getting you hurt, I didn't care what happeed to me as long as you're safe, but…"

"You don't need to," Kai said, climbing the step to be next to her. "We're getting off this island, and you're coming with us, whether Boris wants to or not."

By the time he was done talking, she was already looking at him again. Then she turned for the group below, finding them, one by one or in groups, nodding or shrugging or just smiling, giving him reason while, at the same time, lifting a weight on Ellivah's heart she wasn't even aware of until it was gone. She turned back to Kai, and even though his smile wasn't nearly as open as any of the rest of the Bladebreakers, the Saint Shields, or Hiro's, it was definitely there, hiding behind his stoic gaze and an unshakable doubt over her own feelings.

It made it impossible for her to fight it back anymore. She had never wanted to go in the first place other than to protect the one she loved. She had no reason not to stay with him instead.

And before Kai knew what hit him, Ellivah had wrapped her arms around his neck and was holding on strongly against him.

"I love you too. I'm so sorry."

"It's fine," he said, returning the embrance.

As the tension dissipated, some of them sighed of relief, others smiled, Tyson and Daichi kept their mouths as open as a cave in disbelief and Hiro approached Kenny as he furiously started typing on Dizzi's keyboard as soon as they silenced.

"You have a plan to get us out of here, Kenny?" he asked, looking over his shoulder.

"No, but they do," he said, flipping the laptop around for everyone else to see. "Hey guys, sorry to ruin the mood, but you should all listen to this."

"Hey, everyone," greeted Max, Emily and Mrs. Tate on the other side of the screen as the group turned towards it and Kai and Ells climbed down the stairs to join them.

"Never thought you'd be that kind of guy, Kai, but congratulations," Max said with his sly smile.

"Hmph."

"Trust me when I say I'd love to inquire on this subject further, but we don't have time for that," Emily said after both of them got a stern look from Mrs. Tate.

"We've been getting pretty alarming seismic readings suggesting this volcano isn't as dormant as the organizers wanted us to believe," she said, turning back to the screen. "But we should be fine if we're quick enough."

"Take a look at this, guys," Emily said punching a couple of keys, and a picture of a large store unit on the shore popped up on Dizzi's screen.

"Hey, that's the picture you asked us to take," Joseph said, pointing at it.

"You managed to find out what's inside?" Dunga asked.

"We can't be exactly sure, but based on your information about it and the security around it, we can be fairly certain it houses some sort of luxury yatch," Mrs. Tate said.

"We think Boris and his new best friend had to secure some sort of escape route in case something like this happened. Or, you know, in case the volcano started to erupt," Emily finished.

"We need to capture that ship, it's the only way out of here," Tyson said.

"Is it big enough for everyone?" Hiro asked.

"Even if it gets cramped, we'll make it work," Max said.

"I'll go to that store unit," Kai said. "I can materialize Dranzer, so the guards shouldn't be a problem."

"You can _what_?" Tyson, Daichi and Hilary asked in disbelief.

"How'd you pull that off, Kai?" Max asked

"I'll go too, then," Hiro said. "We'll will open a path for you to bring the guests to the ship."

"Me too," Ellivah said. "Even without Dusk, I can still fight."

"Here," Ozuma said handing her her black beyblade. "But I'll have it after this is over."

Surprised by his decision, she took a moment to actually grab it from his palm and thank him for it.

"Dunga and I will go with you," Ozuma said, looking to Kai and Hiro. "So that makes five of us."

"We're closer to the location, so we'll rendezvous with Ray and his team and we'll fight our way to the unit," Ms. Tate said. "We'll meet there to push through to the ship."

"I'm contacting Zeo and Dr. Zagart to access the island's network again," Kenny said, tapping the keyboard of his laptop and letting small windows pop on the bottom right corner of the screen. "We'll send out a warning for everyone to leave their rooms and follow us to the ship."

"So the rest of us will have to lead them there," Hilary said.

"Precisely."

"Hey, you have to teach me how to materialize my bit-beast!" Tyson shouted to Kai while the group started to break apart to complete their intended tasks.

"You already know how to," he said with but a glance, walking with his group towards the south shore of the island. It was true that Tyson talked with Dragoon increasingly more often, but he was clueless about how to go the extra mile.

"Come on, Tyson!" Hilary shouted, snapping him from his thoughts. With a quick run, he had caught up to their group as they decided their positions.

Letting the panic get to him, Boris rushed to gather whatever he could from his most precious databases, knowing he could remake a Dark Beast using that data when the chance arised again, after he got rid of those meddlesome children with the lava of the volcano. He alone would disembark the island on his partner's yacht, with or without her, and rebuild his plan and his empire from scratch.

Suddenly, the door opened and Midori crossed into the office, planting her staff on the floor in front of her.

"Leave us," she ordered her bodyguards. Without a word, they vanished from sight while Boris returned to his task, gathering files into his briefcase and leaving the drawer to his pistol open in case things got ugly.

"You claimed that this volcano was dormant," Midori said, keeping her voice far too calm for his liking.

"Its readings were nothing troubling."

"Until you realized she'd get away otherwise and activated it."

Boris froze in place and turned his head towards her. Her expression was cold, neutral, indecipherable, and it scared him not being able to tell if she was just bluffing or actually had proof he had been the one to trigger the eruption.

"Don't be ridiculous, woman-"

"To think that the person I believed to be a partner, who vowed to help me find my daughters, actually hid one of them from me during fifteen years. Not only that, tortured her and her spirit the whole time."

A spark lit in Boris's eyes as he finally understood what she was talking about.

"But that's impossible! Ellivah's mother died after she completed DarkDranzer, you have nothing to do with her!"

"Trivialities!" the woman shouted back. "You broke your promise to me and you almost brought their death with your selfish quest for power and revenge. I might not have been able to avenge many of them, but this one I can. Nimble!"

Boris watched in horror as light surrounded Midori and converged on top of him as a kyuubi, green like the jungle, eyes sparkling yellow with fury at his puny form between its claws. He had tried to reach it, but the pistol slipped from his fingers and fell to the floor, closer to her than to him. She spared but a glance at it, raising an eyebrow, but faced him again just as fast. At the same time, the beast's claws dug into his knees and ripped his joints apart. Boris screamed at the pain while the kyuubi jumped to the other side of his desk and, with some difficulty, flipped it over with its head, making a part of it land on top of what was left of his legs.

It was only when his screams waned that Midori spoke again, as if nothing had happened.

"How I wish I could make you suffer like you made that girl suffer. I'll have to contend myself with leaving you here to be consumed by the lava."

"What? No!"

But he could only watch as Midori grabbed the key from the hole on the inside of the room and crossed the door, holding the handle. The kyuubi turned around and jumped, vanishing inside of her, and she slammed the door shut and locked it from the outside.

"No! Let me out! You can't do this to me, Kodai!"

"Watch me," he heard from the other side of the door as her steps waned. She didn't stop, talking to herself as if possessed by dreams or demons. "I used revenge against a man whose biggest mistake was seeking revenge himself. How hypocritical of me. …No, Nimble. We're too old for mercy."

Before long, Max and Ray were peeking at the store unit from the safety of the nearby brush. Just like the Saint Shields had said, there were guards on the roof and around every conceivable entry point into the building, including the sea, where a pair of small gray dingy boats and their two armed sailors floated. Everything indicated they awaited someone, and would not allow anyone else approach the location.

"You don't think we could use our beyblades to attack them?" Kevin wondered.

"I don't honestly think that's a good idea," Lee answered.

"Why not? Everyone seems to do it all the time," Rick said.

Without warning, in a terrifyingly loud sound, the ground shook fiercly beneath them, catching the group by surprise and forcing some of them on the ground. Holding on to a tree to keep his balance, Ray looked over to the source of the sound, and found a dangerous cloud of pitch black smoke rising from the volcano's crater.

"The volcano's erupting!" Michael shouted, also taking notice of it.

"We had no idea it would be so soon!" Emily shouted.

"The faster we get to that boat the better," Rick said as the earthquake started to subside.

"Guys, we're in trouble," Kevin said after standing back up, pointing towards the store unit. Three of the armed guards had taken notice of their presence, and were advancing towards them, readying their weapons. The group instinctively took a step back, their minds racing for a way to get out of that situation other than turning back and running, while Ray glanced over at Mariah to make sure he could protect her if he had to.

"_Let me at them. We can take them out."_

Reassured by the voice, Ray focused on the bit on his beyblade and called the beast within.

"DRIGER!"

In a flash of white one of the men was down, and then another, and then last one was running back to the warehouse and calling for support.

"We'll cover you, get to the ship!" Ray said, following Driger as it dashed towards the building. With a swipe of his claws half the wall was torn out and the few people inside, unequipped to deal with such a creature, fled towards the door on the other side of the warehouse.

"_It is a ship. It might even be as big as you hoped for_," Driger said, taking a quick look inside, while Ray and the rest of them climbed down the hill towards the shore.

"_Then we need to defend it until Kai and the rest arrive."_

"_Consider it done_."

While Ray changed direction with Driger to meet the guards ready with their weapons while the group stormed inside to take control of the empty ship. It was frightening and Ray felt cold sweats as he stared at the barrels of their guns, but with a growl Driger leapt forward and he gave the white tiger all the energy he could muster.

When the shots sounded Emily and Mariah couldn't hold back a scream and most of the group glanced back on instinct.

"Oh my God, Ray!"

"No, don't be stupid, Mariah," Li said, grabbing her as she turned around, certainly ready to run back outside.

"But he's on his own!"

"He's got Driger with him, he'll be fine," he continued pushing her back towards the rest of the group who, recomposed, climbed the ship looking for the bridge.

Michael noted an isolated cabinet that they quickly entered, finding what they were looking for. Emily linked her laptop to the ship's system and, with Mrs. Tate's help, tried to understand how to navigate it while the weapons and Driger's roars echoed from outside.

Suddenly, for a split second, she stopped mashing her keyboard.

"I did it! I'm in control of the ship!" she bellowed in excitement, starting a series of commands for the doors of the yard to open and the vessel's engines to start working.

"Hey, where's Max?" Rick suddenly said, looking behind him to make sure he wasn't missing something.

"Wasn't he with you?" Mrs. Tate asked, with a tone of panic on her voice.

"Yeah, just now, don't tell me he went outside."

"Ship's moving, we'll find out once we're out there," Emily said in her authoritarian tone while they began to peek into the sunlight.

Unfortunately Rick wasn't wrong, and Max couldn't resist not taking a look to see how Ray and Driger were doing. Under the rain of bullets from the reinforcements the tiger could barely move, and even if he was protected by its massive body Ray was looking worn out.

"_Oh no, he won't be able to manifest Driger for much longer."_

"_We can help them out. I'll take care of their weapons, no problem."_

Max knew exactly who was sending its voice on the back of him mind, and knew exactly how to channel his energy to it from a midst of instinct and strange dreams from a life long past.

Ray didn't even notice what was going on near the shipyard until something heavy and dark landed in front of Driger, shielding them from the attack. When he look up and recognized the back of Draciel, arms crossed in its characteristic defensive stance, a deep relief filled him.

"You guys ok?" Max shouted, running up the hill towards them.

"Thanks to you," Ray answered.

"Can you take the rest of them out? We'll cover for you."

"Yeah, let's do it," Ray answered after hearing Driger's consent. When an opening came he jumped from behind Draciel and kept sowing confusion among the mercenaries with the giant turtle following suit shielding Max and Ray.

Soon Draciel pointed the emergence of something new among a small group of the guards.

"Ray, look," Max said, pointing at what he had seen. "Isn't that a white flag?"

Driger stopped chasing people and turned to the group to check as Ray noticed it.

"Yeah, they surrendered!"

"Thank God."

"_I think they want to talk to you."_

"Doesn't hurt to find what they want," Max said.

Both of them climbed towards the group of men, guarded by their beasts, and the odd one out, a woman dressed in a business suit and skirt, holding a white walking cane with a light blue stone where she rested her hand, split herself from it to meet them halfway up the hill.

"I'm genuinely impressed. Those creatures are terrifying," she said, taking a glance at both Driger and Draciel towering above them.

"Who are you?" Ray asked.

"I funded this event. Boris is an old acquaintance of mine. I liked his plan to try and turn the sport into something more profitable last year, and when he said he wanted to do it again, I was inclined to help, for reasons I'm willing to put aside for good if that's what it takes."

"And why should we belive you?" Max asked.

"Various reasons, but most of all he failed to mention that the volcano was active. Me and my men are just as stuck in here as the rest of you, and we'd very much like to keep our skins."

"And Boris?"

"Taken care of."

"What do you mean?" Max asked.

"Is that important?"

Both teenagers traded worried glances, unsure if they should trust the millionaire, but she continued.

"I got what I wanted from this event, and more. I have no quarrel with you. My only desire is to get back to shore."

"Alright, get to the ship. But you're leaving your guns behind, and we'll be waiting for everyone to board," Max endend up saying.

Without addressing them again, the woman signalled her private guard and, after dropping their weapons to the floor, they all trotted to the ship, already waiting by the shore with a boarding plank at the ready.

While they were headed there a shadow passed rapidly above them, getting their attention to Dranzer gaining altitude and a thud behind them.

"Kai!"

"The guards we were fightning dropped arms and started running here," he said.

"Yeah, we just talked to their leader, she's not going to stop us anymore," Max answered.

"Is everyone coming?" Ray asked.

"Well on their way here," he answered with a nod. "I'll go back to speed things up. Make sure that ship is ready to go as soon as everyone's inside."

Without another word he jumped to Dranzer's back, who had descended again, and both boys stretched their necks to see the phoenix gain altutide and leave towards the center of the island.

"Some things just don't change," Max said with a sigh.

"Come on," Ray said, turning back towards the ship.

"Right."

It was while she ran in the corridor of another deserted hotel, making sure no one else remained inside, that the earth shook violently, catching her by surprise. Hilary fell to the floor and stayed there for a couple of seconds before the tremors slowed down. However, just as she started to stand back up, crushing pain jolted from her left foot and she looked in horror at a large wooden cabinet fallen on top of it. The earthquake stopped completely and she tried to pull her leg from beneath the cabinet, but to no avail. Despair loomed over her as she tried to lift it, but her meager strength was no match to its weight. The earthquake could only mean the volcano had just erupted. She couldn't hear a sound outside.

Had she been abandoned in that place?

"Help! Someone!"

Hilary shouted again and again for someone, anyone, to notice her there, but even though she kept trying to lift the heavy piece of furniture and escape that way it just would not budge. Even as she refused to give up and changed her position to move the cabinet tears started coming to her eyes. Was she going to turn to lava there, without even getting to smack Tyson around in a game of beyblade?

"HELP ME!"

"Hilary!"

His voice made her heart skip a beat and all urges she had to cry vanished.

"Tyson! I'm here, on the second floor!"

Hurried steps echoed on the wooden staircase and he quickly showed up from the corner, running towards her.

"What are you still doing here? I almost lost it when I noticed you weren't with the group," he said crouching next to her.

"I can't get this off my foot," she answered, pointing at the cabinet. It was getting increasingly hot and the earth trembled ever now and again. Tyson tried pulling the cabinet away, but it didn't move until he repositioned himself to get a better angle, slowly giving Hilary enough room to pull back her leg, after which he let it go, making a loud "THUD" on the carpeted floor.

"Can you walk?" he asked, offering Hilary his arm to help her stand up. It was fine until she tried to put her left foot down, which gave her so much pain she couldn't help but cry out.

There was no time to limp all the way to shore. With nothing more than a "dammit", Tyson swooped her up on his arms and, telling her to hold on, rushed towards the stairs.

Halfway down he froze on his tracks. There was something red, bright and unbearably hot just peeking around the wall. Tyson quickly turned around and doubled up the stairs, reaching the top just in time for the lava to eat away at the wall, making the entire second floor drop down significantly with a terrible noise. Both of them screamed, but Tyson managed to hold his footing and the floor endured.

"How are we going to get out of here?"

The concrete beneath them cracked and they were both sweating buckets under the heat of the volcano, but as long as they drew breath they could escape that place.

"_A good question. How do we get out here? Perhaps a dragon that rules the wood and the wind would suffice?"_

"_I don't know how to materialize you!"_

"_Don't be foolish, Tyson, of course you do. You've done it before, remember?"_

Only then he noticed he was talking to Dragoon without calling him with the beyblade. Of course. The man whose memories he had been seeing ever since Ellivah joined the team, who had originally allowed Dragoon to be sealed inside the family's sword. He did it from the start. He could summon Dragoon at will, Tyson had _done_ so at will on his dreams.

"Well, when you put it that way, guess he was right after all," he thought aloud with a resignated smile.

"Tyson?"

When Hilary found him to be so silent and focused all of a sudden she couldn't help but wonder what was crossing his mind, even if a part of her was admiring how cool he looked. Then a breeze, seemingly from nowhere, seemed to envelop them both, growing in power and speed while he started glowing blue.

"_We don't have enough room to make you big enough for two people."_

"_It's fine. It's what you want. And I wouldn't lose faith in the two of them."_

The blue light momentarily blinded her, and when she looked back she found the blue dragon, small enough to fit inside the corridor, flying a bit further down the corridor to claw at the roof, making an opening large enough for it to cross. At first she was overjoyed they had found a way out, but she quickly realized that with that size and those claws, Dragoon would never be capable of carrying the both of them out of the hotel at the same time.

Before she could protest against whatever plan they had conjured, Tyson carried Hilary towards the hole and handed her to Dragoon's claws.

"Tyson, what are you doing?" she shouted. "We're not leaving you behind!"

"_I'm counting on you."_

"_Stay alive long enough and I might even be able to come back for you."_

Despite her best efforts at deafening both of them and slipping from Dragoon's claws, he still soared up with Hilary, making it clear that the both of them were ignoring her demands not to abandon Tyson. That's what they had come up with? Without her consent? It was unforgivable to make any sort of decision without consulting with her, especially if it meant sacrificing himself for her sake.

She was crying when she cast out her hand towards him, knowing she couldn't reach him anymore.

"TYSON!"

"_Calm down, Hilary. I can get him. All you have to do is call me."_

The voice on her head made her hold her breath.

"_Dawn? How? Your beyblade was drestroyed."_

"_There were no beyblades at the time Hina was alive and she still spoke to me. You reached out to me in your time of need. You know what you have to do next, right?"_

Of course she did. It was one of the first things Hina showed her how to do. She closed her eyes and focused, giving her energy to the image engraved on the bit on her pocket, and began glowing pure white.

"Dawn!"

The light shot from her pocket and formed into the plumed dragon, already flying back towards the hotel.

"Dragoon, stop! Dawn will get Tyson back, we need to turn around."

Even though she couldn't understand him, she knew Dragoon could understand her, and he also turned towards the hotel. Most of the tourist area was covered in magma, but some of hotels still stood, and the one where Tyson was in one of them, slowly and inevitably being consumed by it.

In one swift motion Dawn ripped another piece of the broken roof and looked inside. Seeing its big head, Tyson raced towards it while the corridor he was in tilted towards the magma. Knowing she'd never be able to land inside without speeding up the process, she turned around and gave him her tail to hold on to. The foundations of the building shook again and Tyson jumped the final stretch, grabbing the tail and dishevelling the feather at its tip. Just as the rest of the building succumbed to the volcano Dawn gained altitude, dragging a very relieved Tyson with her.

Hilary almost laughed with joy seeing them both unharmed. Dragoon hovered just above Dawn's back and placed Hilary there, going down below her tail afterwards to pick up Tyson, who was starting to complain loudly that his arms were hurting.

When the dragons were flying side by side, just like they had done a very long time ago and, with the wind blowing back their hair, Tyson and Hilary started to brag about their heroic deeds to save each other, without bothering to hold back their laughter.

One last group of three people crossed the walkway and Kai jumped from Dranzer behind them.

"That's everyone," he said to Rick while the phoenix vanished.

"Eddy, time to hit the gas!"

He gave him a thumbs up from the bridge and told Emily to go while Kai, Ray, Max and Rick pulled back the walkway. Smoke still rose from the volcano's crater and the bright red magma oozed down, having already replaced a large portion of the island's facilities, while the ship steadily left the shore. It was full to the brim with people who couldn't help but wonder at the fate they had just escaped, including the players from the Japanese, Chinese and American teams, who gathered on the bridge with Dr. Zagart, having demanded to stay there with Zeo, and Emily and Mrs. Tate, who were still driving the ship

"It's impressive…" Max said.

"It's a testament on how nature always has the final word," Li said.

Suddenly Kenny and Zeo barged inside, frantically looking for something.

"What's wrong?" Rick asked.

"Did you see Tyson and Hilary?" Kenny asked.

"No, aren't they downstairs with the rest?" Mariah asked.

"No, we've looked everywhere but we can't find them."

Everyone looked at each other. No one remembered seeing them for the last few minutes, and they hadn't come to the bridge when the ship started moving.

But they couldn't possibly…

"Follow me!" Ellivah said with but a glance behind her shoulder before she burst outside, trampling anyone in her way, and called on Dusk to catch her when she jumped from the ship. If not for someone grabbing her from behind before she could, she might have succeeded.

"Let me go!" she shouted, struggling to get out from Kai's grip.

"They're not there."

"You don't understand, we have to save…"

She silenced and stopped moving when she followed Kai's finger with her eyes, meeting a white drop in the smoking sky. It took her another moment to recognize Dawn, with Dragoon next to her, in a much smaller form, gliding towards the ship, and she took a deep breath of belief.

"Next time you want to barge out and do things on your own," he said. "Don't."

"It's still stronger than me, I'm afraid," Ellivah answered with a laugh, while the dragons approached enough that Hilary and Tyson could be seen waving at the ship. "But I'll do my best."

Soon Dragoon was stopping above the ship, and dropped Tyson on the crowded main deck. While the dragon vanished inside his beyblade, Dawn glided above their heads and, since she was unable to land or drop her ride with her claws, Hilary jumped from her back, landing right on top of Tyson and making them both fall to the floor and the people around them have a couple of laughs.

Her foot still hurt when she stood up with his help, but she was way too happy to let it get to her. When Hilary faced Tyson, all she wanted to do was jump around and hug him with all the strength she could muster. So she did just that, and it seemed something similar had crossed his mind because he did exactly the same thing.

"We did it!"

"We actually did it!"

"We're the best!"

"I was actually worried for a second there!"

"I knew we'd find a way!"

"I…"

Her words were cut off by his lips. Tyson had just grabbed her head and kissed her on impulse, and she was too shocked and too thrilled for a second to react, unlike the crowd around them, who let out all sorts of exclamations and cheers. Ultimately, they called to Hilary's senses to push him away from her. His cheeks were almost as red as the magma on the island they had left behind, but hers were burning up as well.

"What the hell was that?" she asked.

"I-I'm sorry, I was just so happy that…"

"You kissed me? You just stole my first kiss!"

"Please don't kill me, I was just really happy that you're alright because I kinda like you and…"

Hilary's heart had never raced so fast before hearing those simple words, but then it simply stopped for a second.

"You like me?" she repeated.

"… Yeah, I do. There, I said it."

"You go, Tyson!"

"Yeah!"

"SHUT UP!"

Hilary's shout silenced the crowd before it could get any louder. Her hands were still on his shoulders, but she stared straight down and it was impossible for any of them, including Tyson, to see her bright red face and the smile that spontaneously blossomed there.

"You remember when I said that the person I liked was a dumbass?" she asked, still looking down.

"I know I'm a dumbass, but…"

"It's a dumbass who just saved my life," she said, looking back up to him. To be fair, she had only done that to see what sort of face he'd have once he found out that she liked him too. Shocked to the point where his mouth just gaped open was priceless. And just to prove her point she kissed him back.

The crowd erupted, and even on the bridge their closest friends laughed and cheered on them finally resolving their tension and getting together. It was a shame it had taken a near-death experience with a volcano for that final step.

Down below, mingled with the crowd, Ellivah only smiled, unable or unsure if she should be as ecstatic as everyone surrounding her, but feeling genuinely happy things had worked out for them. Then, noticing something was missing, she turned around to see Kai leaving the crowd towards the back of the ship. It was fine that those two boneheads had finally figured it out, and maybe things would get less loud from that moment onward, but it was way too loud for him at that point.

Even if smaller, the aftdeck of the ship had also had people in it, but they had all left for the front upon hearing the uproar to find out what the commotion was all about. He had just barely leaned on the wall and taken a deep breath when Ellivah emerged from the corner, but she didn't say a word. Instead she went to the railing and, for a while, only gazed towards the island, increasingly small in their wake.

"Do you think he'll come back?" she thought aloud.

Breathing out, Kai kicked back the wall and stood next to her, also looking at the place they had just left, where nothing could be remaining other than ash and rock.

"Honestely? No," he answered. "But if he does we'll be ready."

They turned towards each other, but footsteps made them turn around towards the main deck before anything else.

"Huh, are we interrupting something?" Zeo asked. His father stood with him, hands behind his back in a regal, imposing posture.

"Not at all," Ellivah answered, shaking her head. "What is it?"

"My dad has a proposition for you," he said with a genuine smile, and Kai and Ellivah turned, puzzled, at Mr. Zagart.

"I may have asked Zeo a couple of things about you," he said. "Don't take it personally."

"What did he say?" she answered with but a glance at him, refraining from getting mad until she had heard more.

"That you were staying at Tyson's place for the championship, and now that it's over, he doesn't know if that's where you'll be staying or not."

That statement left her without an answer for a moment. It was true and it hurt to know that she'd have to go back to the streets sooner or later.

"Yes, Tyson has graciously lend me his bedroom to stay while we trained for the championship, but now that it's over, I believe I should return it to him."

"Good. Then you can come and live with us."

She blinked, unsure if she had heard that right. "What?"

"Come on, Ells, it'll be great," Zeo said, grabbing her hand with gleaming eyes. "We can go to school together and help each other out with studies, and play beyblade all the time."

Unable to believe what she was listening, she looked from Zeo to Zagart, showing, for the first time, a great deal of surprise on her expression.

"Are you serious?"

"We have plenty of spare rooms, and Zeo has been asking for… company, for a while now. You'll have everything you need, space, privacy, and of course, Kai will be able to visit you anytime you wish."

Those people she barely even knew were giving her a place to live. In any other circumstance she would refuse without a second thought, standing to her belief that she should trust no one, especially if being offered something too good to be true. But she needed that, for so many different reasons, first and foremost being a place to live, perhaps even a chance at a normal life. Unconsiously looking for what she should do she turned to Kai, who nodded back to her.

If they were people he deemed trustworthy, it was time to take another step forward.

"Y-yes, I'll gladly accept your offer," she said with a bow almost as deep as her gratitude. "Thank you so much…"

"Yeah, I got a sister now!" Zeo said jumping up to piggyback on her. "You're gonna have to fight me for her time," he continued, smiling maliciously at Kai.

"But I've already won," he answered, with a shade of triumph in his voice.

"I can steal her," he said, throwing out his tongue.

"Don't I have some say on the matter?" she asked.

"Zeo, get off her," Zagart ordered, turning to Ellivah afterwards. "We'll be at the bridge when you want to know more about your new home."

He pondered for a second, but ended up letting her go, but not without whispering on her ear.

"Now it's your turn."

As soon as she conjured up the question of what he meant with that, the answer came to her and she didn't say a word, merely staring at Zeo with her cheeks turning pink while he waved at them with the same malicious smile.

"No one has ever offered me something like that," she thought aloud.

"I didn't expect him to," Kai answered. "Zagart tried to take our bit-beasts from us, two years ago, to use them to turn Zeo into a human. Then Tyson did his thing, and he changed his mind. Zagart became an ally after that. He helped us a couple of days ago, forcing the championship's funder to keep us on the tournament, even if our spare player had-"

"Issues," she ended, turning around to face the sea. It was something she knew would be hard to let go, but she needed to forgive herself just like the rest of them had forgiven her. She had looked it up with Hiro's help during those days at the end of the tournament, and saw for herself that her father was dead. Whatever tears she had shed on Kai's chest hadn't been enough, for she cried for a very long time after looking at the article confirming his fate.

"Will you do something for me?" she asked. "Will you visit my father's grave with me?"

"Yes."

For a while neither of them spoke, listening to the shouting Hilary and Tyson, who seemed to have finally gotten mad at the people around them, and to the ship gliding through the waves.

"I still can't believe this is all happening," she ended up admitting. Kai's scarf blew wildly with the wind, just like her hair, in a way that was somewhat mesmerizing to look at. It all had began when, on a split second, she had Dusk throw her inside an open window, thinking the room was empty. It had ended with her finding a home and friends, becoming free, and falling in love.

"I had never even kissed someone before," Ellivah thought aloud.

"Me neither," Kai admitted after a beat.

"Healing powers aside, I don't think I'm very good at it."

"You are."

She looked at him to make sure he was being serious, and then she remembered there was no way he wasn't being serious, and he was looking at her eyes too, binding her to him. Whatever answer she had in mind vanished as their heads were drawn to each other and they kissed for the third time, difference being that there were no lives at stake there, and they could take their time to enjoy it.

Or at least that's what they wanted to belive in.

"Hey, guys, Kai and Ells are totally making out over here! Come on, come on!"

They broke off and looked up to see Vera, one of the pesky Portuguese girls, laughing back on the upper deck and shouting at the other side of the ship. Clicking his tongue, Kai lifted Ells on his arms, and she let out a surprised "Oh!", but grabbed his neck just as fast before he jumped, first to the upper deck, then to the roof of the bridge, where he put her down.

"Hey, don't be a killjoy! Everyone wants to see it!" Vera shouted.

"Everyone can go kiss my ass," Kai replied, sitting down on the roof. Ellivah sat next to him, and didn't do anything else at first, but was soon putting her head down on his shoulder with a soft, pleased sigh.

Below them, Vera raced to the prow of the ship to spy on Tyson and Hilary, passing by the Saint Shields, who couldn't be more satisfied with themselves, having fulfilled everything they had set out to do.

"It's still hard to believe that this curse is finally broken," Ozuma thought aloud.

"Yeah. How didn't they ever manage to be true to their feelings before they died?" Dunga said, then adding when Joseph seemed to be looking a bit confused with the whole thing. "You know, Edonisu and Hina's previous reincarnations."

"Oh, yeah, right, but that's not what I was thinking about."

"Hmm?"

"Say, sis, what about you?"

"What about me?" Mariam asked, turning to her little brother.

Joseph's disguised smirk emerged in full force.

"When are you giving Ozuma a big smooch?"

"W-what are you talking about, Joseph!"

"You didn't deny it!"

"You're just as lame at the rest of them down there!"

"Shut up, the both of you!"

While he did his best to ignore her and the other two mocking her, he couldn't stop a thought creeping in that maybe it wouldn't be so bad. However, before he could push it away, a person climbing the steps towards the upper deck got his attention and Ozuma looked down to the man with short blue hair emerging from the steps who had been with them and Ellivah the previous couple of days.

"Oh, hi, Ozuma," Hiro said.

"Shouldn't you be with Tyson?" he asked back while his group stopped the bickering and joined his side.

"I think he has enough company to keep him busy for a long time," he answered with a laugh. "I'll talk to him later. I'm actually here to get paid for the job I talked to you about. Why don't you come with me? I'm sure she'd like to meet you all."

"Alright."

On the other side of the deck was the millionaire with a firm hand in the jewelry market and a toe in beyblading, alone in her thoughts with her strange white wodden staff and its icy jewel. While she looked in her forties, with her unruly hair cut just below her shoulders and neutral, cold dark eyes, as soon he as recognized her, from their stories and a couple of fotographs, Ozuma knew she was much older than that.

"Thank you for your work," she said, handing Hiro an evelope.

"Thank you for the opportunity, Mrs. Kodai," he answered, stowing it inside his shirt.

"You're… you're Midori. The priestessess' mother," Ozuma said, forcing both her and Hiro to face his way. He knew that she was alive somewhere, but he had no idea she had also been on the island during the tournament. However, it didn't take long for him to connect the rest of the dots.

While Mariam, Joseph and Dunga reached the same conclusions he did, gaping in astonishment or hardening their faces, she tilted her head to the side in a trained gesture.

"The priestessess' mother? I'm afraid I have no idea what you mean, young man."

"Our ancestors fought in the Forbidden War of Liberation, among the Priestess of Light and Dark," Ozuma said, taking a step forward. "They vowed they'd never allow another tragedy like the one happen again. Our clan has been looking for the Sacred Beasts, the Spirits of the Five Celestial Warriors and the Equilibrium to seal them away, so they could never be used to destruction again. While our ancestors looked, they found out about your curse, and we've been trying to break it but, according to what we've been told, you weren't very eager to receive cooperation."

"I remember now. Your little clan was persistent, thinking they could help. I did let them, but they only made things worse, so I cut whatever ties I had with them after a couple of decades," the woman said with a sigh. "But you helped protect the girl you call Ellivah."

"Yes, they've been very reliable this last couple of days, Mrs. Kodai," Hiro said.

"We've also saved her from Boris before, when she walked right back in their den to save your dad," Joseph said, taking a meaningful glance at Hiro.

"That was entirely my fault, I let my guard down," he replied with sincerity. "But I'm really grateful you stepped in to take care of the mess."

"I see," Midori suddenly said. "You've all helped in order to keep my daughters safe during this time. Then, I have you all to thank for."

"It was our job," Ozuma said.

"No big deal," Joseph finished.

"Then, there's something else I was going to give Hiro to do, but why don't I take this proposal and give it to all of you instead?"

"What do you want us to do?" Ozuma asked.

"I want you to kill Kai Hiwatari."

Their determination turned into horror in a blink of an eye.

"What? Why?" Hiro asked.

"While they are both in love, my daughters are in peril. I'm not going to ask you to kill your little brother, of course, after everything you've done for me, so only the other one remains."

"You can't be serious, you don't know?" Dunga asked, getting her attention.

"The curse is already broken-"

"Silence!" the woman shouted, knocking with her staff on the floor and cutting off Ozuma. "I will not tolerate a child claiming to know more about this curse, my own curse, than myself," suddenly, as something crossed her mind, her voice mellowed down again. "He's your friend, too. Alright, I understand. I won't force you to do something you don't want to do. I'll kill him myself."

Light started to glow, stronger around Midori, and the Shields raced to find something to convince her to stop from doing such a mistake. Suddenly, it hit Mariam. There was a second curse that hadn't been addressed too, and that she had probably forgotten about as well.

"Wait, Midori, there's something we need to know! Please!"

Cancelling the conjuration of her spirit, she turned to Mariam with indifference.

"What?"

"There's something in our texts that we've never managed to find. Your first husband, the father of the Priestess of Dark. It's said that you loved him more than anything. What's his name?"

"What are you talking about, sis, his name's-"

"Shut up, Joseph," Ozuma whispered as he covered his mouth, hoping it had been enough.

Looking down to the stone on her staff, the woman's eyes filled with emotion for the first time, deep sadness and longing that lasted for more than centuries, and she remained silent for a couple of seconds, as if his mere mention had dried her tounge and made it hard for her to talk.

"Shigure. His name was Shigure. I miss you so much…"

Without warning, the stone on her staff glowed brightly, catching her of guard, and released a beam of light, which converged right in front of her into a man with lilac hair dressed in an old yukata and wooden sandals, reminding of a time long gone.

"You've finally called my name," he said after a deep sigh, looking at Midori, who stared back at him in awe and disbelief.

"S-Shigure? Is it you? Is it really you? Not an illusion or a trick from that witch?"

"Why don't you come here and see for yourself?" he answered, opening his arms in a warm smile at her.

At first she didn't do anything, frozen in time and afraid, but her heart got the best of her mind and her eyes teared up as she flung herself into his embrace, shouting at the top of her lungs.

"You idiot! Why didn't you show your face sooner? You have no idea what I've been through!"

"Calm down, Midori, there's no need to make a scene in front of all these people," he answered softly, patting her head almost playfully, but holding her firmly with his other hand. "I have no idea how you managed to discover that, but thank you very much," he said, turning towards Mariam and the others.

"We're glad to help," she said with a smile from ear to ear while the boys behind her nodded.

"I hate it when you do that," Midori said grabbing the hand that still patted her head.

"I know."

"But, how?" she asked, looking serious again.

"Shiroko wanted me to watch everything, too. She sealed me inside her staff, hoping you'd find her and kill her, so you'd take it with you. Then we'd be together, but you without knowing and me powerless to do anything, watching our crime against her time and time again. But, all of that is over now," he added when she looked down, a glint of hate on her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"The curse is broken, Midori. Those children are right. Didn't you feel it?"

"I felt something, I won't deny it," she answered, looking away from him and towards the sea, as if it embarrassed her. "But I've felt it so many times before, when they were true to themselves and to the ones they loved. And then they always died and nothing changed. I started to believe it was another part of the curse, to give me hope and crush me even further."

"That's true, but this time both those girls managed to do it. That was the condition. And now it's over."

While the Shields and Hiro had watched their conversation in silence, their eagerness and patience waned as they noticed their colors were fading in the wind. Time was catching up to them, and they didn't seem to care.

"But we'll stay together, won't we?"

"Of course. Not now, but forever."

Forcing themselves not to interefere, the five guardians stood witness to their last embrace, as their feet, their bodies and their heads gradually mingled into dust and, cradled by the sea wind, vanished as one towards the horizon. Their curses had been the only thing tying them to the world of the living and, with both lifted, they were finally free to have their earned rest.

On the deck below and above the cabin, four people were startled by a fleeting feeling.

"Did you hear that, Tyson?" Hilary asked, ceasing her shouting towards him and everyone else around her on the deck.

"Yeah," he answered. "'Thank you', wasn't it?"

When she nodded back they turned towards the direction of voice, finding Hiro, Ozuma, Mariam, Joseph and Dunga looking their way from the ship's upper deck. However, as Ozuma smiled, turning around and leaving from sight, followed by the rest, something told them they hadn't been the ones responsible for it. Instead, as they followed something on the corner of their eye, they found Kai and Ellivah, standing on top of the cabin and looking down, seemingly having been attracted towards the same spot. Both of them noticed Tyson and Hilary staring their way and, with a natural smile, he crossed his arms and she lifted her hand in a shy waving motion. Hilary lifted her whole arm and waved back while Tyson threw a thumb's up their way, and soon they were turning around to be alone in that roof.

They weren't really sure if it had only been their imagination playing tricks, or elder beings in their gratitude towards their deeds, but it didn't really matter. They faced forward, along with the ship, towards their future.


End file.
